


Connected

by Krissy, YourDearOldFriend



Series: Cursed [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Curses, F/M, Fluff, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 06:10:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15479349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krissy/pseuds/Krissy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourDearOldFriend/pseuds/YourDearOldFriend
Summary: Albus thought everything was over after he was back in his own body, but a following series of frightful incidents shows him otherwise. It seems like even though Delphi is locked away in Azkaban, Albus has to deal with a trace of her left in his mind.Sequel/Part Two to 'Switched'**PAUSED***





	1. Albus

**Author's Note:**

> Hey :)  
> Here it finally is, the sequel/part two to Switched. (If you haven't read [Part One](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14493462/chapters/33481395), make sure to read it first!)
> 
> I'm not quite sure how many chapters there will be yet, but I hope you enjoy! ;)

 

Albus stood up at once, shoving his wand back in his pocket, his heart beating so heavily in his chest he feared his classmates would hear it. A few heads turned to him, curious on what was going on with Harry’s Potter’s son now. Professor McGonagall stopped in her action of writing her notes on the blackboard, turning to him and raising a thin brow.

“Mr Potter?” 

Albus stared at her, barely noticing the attention he was drawing to himself again. Maybe he would have felt ashamed if it wasn’t for the anxiety bubbling in his stomach, making him feel light-headed. Scorpius’ hand was pulling on his robes, he knew he was worrying him but couldn’t bring himself to turn his head at him. The classroom was strangely blurry around him and his heart was hammering in his ears. He needed to get out of here.

McGonagall was still watching him expectantly and so were the other students, he cleared his throat in an attempt to get back his voice.

“I... need to see Madam Pomfrey”, he got out, relieved to hear his voice sounding mostly stable. A few students murmured to each other, Scorpius’ grip tightened.

Professor McGonagall’s eyes wandered down on him for a brief second and he raised his hand to touch his chest as if it were merely the scars that were hurting, then she gave a short nod.

“You may leave. And take Mr Malfoy with you.”

Scorpius immediately jumped up beside him, so fast his chair nearly fell over, grabbing his arm as if he feared Albus wouldn’t be able to stand much longer on his own. He nodded fiercely, escorting him to the door. The students whispering grew louder and McGonagall had to shush them before ordering them to continue with their work. As they left the classroom Albus turned back around and could’ve sworn to see the snake on his desk wink at him before the door fell shut.

“What is it, Albus?”, Scorpius asked in a hushed voice, his grey eyes flickering up and down at him as if he expected blood to seep through his clothes at any second. “Does it hurt again? You know, Dad said–“

“It doesn’t”, Albus cut him off, pulling his best friend into an adjoining corridor, quickly glancing around to see if it was empty. Luckily all of the students seemed to be in their classes. He ushered Scorpius to a large window leading to the courtyard, sank down on the windowsill.

“Scorpius.” He met his friends concerned eyes. “That snake just talked to me.”

As soon as the words left his lips he found them ridiculous. Was he sure he didn’t just imagine? Maybe his mind had played some kind of trick on him. Wizards didn’t just turn into Parseltongues over night. But switching bodies with Voldemort’s daughter wasn’t something that happened everyday either, was it?

Scorpius stared at him, his mouth hanging slightly open, he sat down closely next to him.

“A-Are you sure?”, he almost whispered. Albus nodded softly. He couldn’t have just imagined that. But surely there was some simple explanation for this. He suddenly wished Scorpius would stop looking so worried, maybe this didn’t even mean anything. Swallowing down his own fear he straightened up a bit.

“But that’s not... bad, is it? I mean, it was a bit of a shock and got me out of there but–“

“Not _bad_? You weren’t a Parseltongue before, were you?”

Albus knew exactly what he meant by _before_ and it made his stomach twist uneasily. He shook his head, trying to escape Scorpius’ insistent eyes.

“No, but...”, he broke off, sighing deeply, not wanting to admit the worries and fears gnawing through his insides like a fire burning in his stomach. He knew where all the evidence was pointing at and what this looked like: After Delphi had switched them back again, she left some kind of trace in him, giving him the ability to talk to snakes and who knew what else. He shuddered slightly at the thought, involuntarily bringing his hand to his temple. The thought of having a part of Voldemort’s daughter in his head was disgusting and frightening at the same time.

“Albus...”, Scorpius began again cautiously, reaching out for his arm.  "You should write to your dad.”

“No.” Albus jumped up, frantically shaking his head, began to walk down the corridor towards the Slytherin dorms, Scorpius had to hurry to keep up with him.

He wouldn’t tell his dad, no way. His father was already worried enough about him and still feeling enormously guilty because of what he had done to him, even if it had been an accident, he wouldn’t bother him with that. He’d sort this out himself. Understanding snakes, whatever. It wasn’t like he met them all the time, he didn’t have to worry about it so much. He felt a bit nauseated at the thought nevertheless.

“I’m just saying...”, Scorpius insisted, slightly out of breath, grabbing his sleeve again. “Your Dad _would_ want to know about this, don’t you think?”

Albus sighed, rolling his eyes, pretending all this was merely annoying him and not scaring the hell out of him at all. “My dad’s already drowning in guilt anyway, what do you think he does when I tell him I can suddenly talk to snakes?”

Scorpius promptly stopped and so did Albus reluctantly. His friends eyes were wider than normal, he took a step closer to him, stroking a strand of blond hair behind his ear. "What do you think this is then, hm?”

Albus shrugged, deeply burying his hands in his pockets. There was a slight pain throbbing behind his temples but he was probably only imagining it.

“I don’t know what it is. And I don’t care.” Albus looked up to face his best friend, who glanced back doubtfully.

“Look, I’ll just stay away from any snakes and then it should be fine.”

He tried a weak smile, which came out more as a grimace. Not wanting to endure Scorpius’ piercing eyes anymore, he freed his arm and continued to stroll down the corridor. His friend, of course, hurried after, his voice echoing through the room.

“Albus, wait!”

 

Albus wanted to lie down in his bed in the cool, dim Slytherin dorms and clear his head of all his confusing thoughts. Preferably without Scorpius trying to persuade him to write his father or staring at him worriedly as if he would transform into Delphi any moment.

“Just listen...” He grabbed his arm with a surprisingly strong grip and Albus whirled around, suppressing another sigh. He didn’t even know what was bothering him so much right now but he knew he rather wanted to be alone. He also felt the strange urge to cry.

But Scorpius didn’t look like he wanted to insist on coming with him.

“I’ll be going to the library, okay? Maybe I can find something there.”

Albus pressed his lips together, then gave a brief nod. Fine. Maybe he actually would.

“Thanks...”

Scorpius nodded and for a second they stared at each other and Albus opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. His friend hesitated, then turned around and went back the way they came from.

Albus glanced after him for a moment then continued his walk down to the dungeons. He briefly hoped no one would notice he wasn’t actually in the hospital wing.

The common room was empty and he settled down on the couch next to one of the tall windows, watching a few strange looking fish and a Grindylow swim by. The dim sunlight filtered through the water managed to calm him somewhat.

So what was that what just happened? He had simply understood that snake, as if it was speaking normal English. He was able to speak to an animal, understand it. Well, he supposed he was, he hadn’t said anything back after all. Perhaps he shouldn’t have bolted out of the room so quickly. But he couldn’t have spent another second in that room.

Albus sighed softly, resting his chin on his hand, eyes following a few water bubbles rising to the surface of the lake.

He knew his father once had a piece of Voldemort inside him, the Horcrux he had accidentally created and it had disappeared after Voldemort had tried killing him in the Battle of Hogwarts. But this was different. He doubted Delphi had intended for this to happen. She always had a plan b, yes, but in what way was this supposed to help her? The thought of still having some sort of connection to her was horrifying. She had been in his body, he supposed that didn’t simply go unnoticed. He could probably be glad it was just the Parseltongue thing that stuck with him.

And Delphi was in Azkaban now. After everything she had done she deserved to never get out of there again.

Although it had been a few days now, he still felt a bit weird, being back in his own body, not knowing everything she had done while being him. Shuddering slightly Albus glanced down at himself and felt relieved about the familiar sight once again. Scorpius had filled him in on most of the things that happened but Albus was sure he was leaving out some parts he’d rather not have him know. He tried not to think about it to much. It wasn’t Scorpius’ fault, Delphi apparently was an extremely convincing actress.

And more importantly, she was gone now, forever. Thankfully without doing any harm or change to his body (he had checked thoroughly). Well... except for the snake thing.

Perhaps Scorpius would find out something indeed, maybe there were some cases in which the victims of Dark Magic later possessed certain abilities themselves. That wasn’t so unlikely. Albus suddenly wished he would have gone with him, sitting here alone with his thoughts was more scary than expected. Even though that was what he had wanted desperately just now...

But it was probably for the best, he didn’t want Professor McGonagall to catch him somewhere on the corridor when he was supposed to be sick.

Still, him and Scorpius had grown even closer in the last days and it definitely had something to do with their quite awkward confession in the hospital wing back then. He didn’t regret what he had said, nor would he say he had just done it because he had been so glad to be alive and neither did Scorpius, but it seemed like now neither of them knew how to take the next step. He wanted to, he wanted things to change between them and he knew Scorpius wanted that do but if Albus knew one thing, it was that he wasn’t exactly a brave person. Not if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

They’d have enough time to figure everything out, he told himself. No need to hurry. He probably shouldn’t think about it too much, especially not now when he there seemed to be a bigger problem at hand.

The portrait to the Common Room swung open and a group of students swarmed in, indicating that the first period was over. A few of them shot him suspicious looks and Albus slowly got up, slumping down the staircase to the bedrooms. At least it was quiet there.

It wasn’t like the other students suddenly were extremely rude to him or anything, they were mostly ignoring him and he was fine with a few gloomy stares at him while doing homework. It mostly made him wonder if they were staring because of the Harry Potter’s son, the Time-Turner or the Voldemort’s daughter thing. He supposed it didn’t really matter and even though it sounded stupid, he knew people would always be staring, he could cope with that. However, thanks to McGonagall the amount of mocking comments he and Scorpius received at breakfast had gotten considerably less.

If it was just because they were told so he didn’t know, but he’d take it as long as it lasted.

With a sigh, Albus heavily flopped down on his bed, kicking off his shoes and sank back down into his pillows. The thought that Delphi had slept in here as well not too long ago pushed back into his mind, he shut his eyes, trying not to think of it. It was best if he just forgot about everything.

Turning to the side and snuggling into his blanket, Albus’ eyes fell on his bag, lying discarded on the floor, his Transfiguration book threatening to fall out. For a second he contemplated picking it up and trying that spell from today’s lesson once more, he was way behind on school stuff anyway, but his tiredness got the better of him. His eyelids got heavier with every blink and he allowed himself to rest, just for a moment...

When Albus opened his eyes again it was dark, but it couldn’t be night yet.

Then suddenly a bright lightning flashed through the sky, followed by an enormous loud thunder. But he wasn’t supposed to see the sky from here, he was under the lake... The realization of where he was hit him like a hard kick in the stomach, he should have recognized the grey walls and cold stone floor he was sitting on way sooner. Azkaban. The sound of rain clashing again the stone walls of the building, into the waves below and the howling of the wind was deafening.

But this wasn’t the cell he had been in before, it was a different one. It was located more on the outside than in the middle of the ward. He could feel the cold rain splashing through the bars on his skin, making him shiver horribly.

He was sitting on the thin mattress, staring outside, out of the corner of his eyes, Albus could see two silhouettes standing in front of the cell, two guards, their glowing wands in their hands.

There was a dull feeling of fear in his stomach, squirming and ever present, but there was also anger. Lurking underneath and ready to come out at any second, burning away the empty hopelessness in his chest bit by bit.

Loosening his fists, he lowered his head, pushing back his sleeve which were too long for his arms, revealing his hands, his very female looking hands – and Albus woke up with a jolt.

He was sitting upright in his bed in the Slytherin dorm, panting heavily, his heart pumping in his chest and he needed a moment to comprehend what just happened. A nightmare. Just a nightmare.

He was sitting upright in his bed in the Slytherin dorm, panting heavily, his heart pumping in his chest and he needed a moment to comprehend what just happened. A nightmare. Just a nightmare.

Still trembling, he looked at his hands, very much his own and felt like laughing and crying at the same time. It had only been a dream, a terribly realistic dream but nothing more. He was okay.

Albus took a shaky breath, wiping his sweaty hair out of his forehead. It wasn’t his first nightmare but they never had been like this before. He always had been himself. And he never had been back in Azkaban either. But he supposed that was normal, Scorpius had once told him even his father had still nightmares about the war and Voldemort sometimes and he knew his own dad did too.

But there were two things weird about this. First of all, it hadn’t been like he remembered it. That hadn’t been the same cell, nor had it been guarded when he had been imprisoned there or stormed outside. Of course that didn’t mean anything, dreams were confusing and his mind had probably mixed up a couple of things, so he tried not to worry about that.

The second was how extremely realistic it had been. He had clearly felt the rain and the cold, he never had a dream like that before. He could still see everything in front of him, when he was normally rubbish at remembering his dreams. And for some reason he had felt angry, too. He had never felt angry in Azkaban, not like this, but just now he undoubtedly had, very much. Or – a thought came to him, a thought that made his stomach twist – Delphi had?

No. Being friends with Scorpius had a lot of benefits, one was that he never shut up about anything he read. He once told him about lucid dreaming, extremely realistic dreams, where the dreamer could decide what to do and this was what he had experienced just now. Nothing more. Nothing to worry about. 

Running his hand through his hair, he gave a sigh, pushing off his blanket and shifted to the edge of his bed, reaching for his glass of water.

There was nothing weird about it, he was bound to have nightmares at some point. That was normal, totally normal.

However, it didn’t stop him from jumping slightly when a moment later the door burst open and Scorpius entered, balancing a stack of books in his arms, letting them fall on the end of his bed and plumping down next to him with a dramatic sigh.

“Ugh. Heavy. You better appreciate my sacrifice.”

Albus nodded, not really trusting his voice yet, his heart still hadn’t calmed down. Scorpius frowned softly, tilting his head to the side. “Are you okay? You’re a bit pale.”

“Sure. A bit tired, I just had a nap”, he lied and so made the decision not to tell him of his dream. In all honesty he was tired of people worrying about him.

Before Scorpius could say anything he grabbed one of the books, forcing a grin that, in his opinion, came out quite convincing.

“Consider me forever in you debt”, he added, waving the book and Scorpius hesitantly smiled, the slightly confused look in his eyes stayed.

Albus averted his eyes, examining the book doubtfully. The cover was green and matched the curtains on his bed very well, there was a little snake depicted in each corner. _The Secrets of Salazar Slytherin_ was written in big silver letters in the middle. He supposed it was worth a try.

Settling back into his pillows, he opened it, briefly skimming the contents. Scorpius joined him with an equally thick book, their shoulders touched and Albus couldn’t help but glance at him unobtrusively from the side. They sat like that countless of times before, but it made his stomach flutter with butterflies like it was the first time. A part of his brain briefly wondered how one person could make him feel this different in a matter of seconds.

Remembering he should probably concentrate now, he focused back on his book, skipping through the chapters; _Slytherin and his Relations to the Dark Lord, The Founding of Hogwarts..._

After a while Scorpius nudged him softly, and he looked up, questioningly. His friend was shoving his book over to him, tapping at the page. “Look, this only says you can learn to speak Parseltongue... but no mentions of that it’s just... well, there.”

He shrugged apologetically and Albus gave a silent “Hm.”

There had to be someone they could ask about this. Not his father but maybe a teacher? Someone who knew a lot of things about Dark Magic...

“It’s extremely rare...”, Scorpius read, face buried in his book. Albus resisted the urge to scoff. Extremely rare, great. He believed he knew that already. “And... you... well, yeah... obviously...”

Albus rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide a soft smile. “You’re doing it again, Scorp.” His friend had the habit of talking more to himself than to the people around him sometimes.

“Oh...”, he smiled, caught, pushing his hair behind his ear. “Well, it’s rare except for the people related to Salazar Slytherin. And sometimes people used it not only to talk to snakes but to other Parselmouths as well. As a sort of secret language.”

Albus raised his brows at that. He couldn’t imagine. Especially not if they were so few people capable of speaking it. The strange vision of a couple of strangers sitting at a table, making various hissing noises at each other appeared in his mind, he pushed it aside. This was strange enough as it was and he didn’t plan on making a conversation like this with anyone. He didn’t even know if he could speak it correctly or at all, perhaps this had been a one time thing...

A sudden thought came to his mind, he placed his hand on Scorpius’ leg. “Scorpius. She can still speak it, can’t she?” 

Maybe she had somehow lost the ability, although he found it difficult to imagine that. A powerful witch like Delphi would never give up something like that, especially because she was associating it with her father so much. Except... that maybe she didn’t know of this, he doubted she tried speaking Parsel in prison. Scorpius looked thoughtful, glancing up at the ceiling.

“I suppose, yeah. I mean, your dad and Voldemort could both speak it at the same time.

Albus nodded weakly at that, crunching his nose, he didn’t much like being compared to Voldemort and his father’s situation. “Great. What else does it say?”

“Nothing much... There’s a list of known Parselmouths... But your dad’s not on it and neither is Delphi.” Scorpius closed the book, looking at him helplessly. “Sorry, Al.”

Albus shrugged, trying to be content with that for the moment. He supposed it didn’t really matter anyway. If this really was the only consequence of this curse Delphi used, he could live with it. It wasn’t like he had much to do with snakes everyday.

“Well...”, he mumbled, shuffling a tiny bit closer to Scorpius so that their legs were touching. “Thank you anyways...”

His friend placed his hand on his back, softly rubbing over it and Albus leaned even closer, his heart fluttering in his chest.

“Of course...”

He could feel the warmth radiating from his body and gathered all his courage. Slowly he settled against his side, leaning his head on his shoulder. Scorpius’ arm almost immediately wrapped around his waist. For a moment they just sat like this, Albus listening to his quiet breathing, thinking about what to say next, the open book still on his lap. They hadn’t been this close since that day in the hospital wing... Surely he could think of something.

“Albus?”, Scorpius then asked quietly and Albus lifted his head a bit too quickly meeting his eyes. His friend had a very light smile on his lips. “I didn’t ask but... what did the snake say?”

Albus suppressed a sigh, averting his eyes again. He closed the book and threw it onto the pile of book at the end of his bed, ignoring Scorpius’ silent wincing. He couldn’t help but hope their conversation would shift to something different. “Well... it said ‘Don’t you dare, Potter’. It didn’t want me to hex it.”

Scorpius chuckled, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “That’s kind of sad."

He hadn’t thought about that. He supposed, it was, actually. Scorpius was probably only trying to cheer him up.

“I guess.” Albus very slowly reached for his hand which was lying on his lap, intertwining their fingers. Scorpius looked at him, slightly surprised and Albus kept his gaze fixed on the opposite wall and his hand firmly in his.

“I didn’t think about that. It probably only wanted to have a little conversation with someone.”

Scorpius snorted and Albus started grinning as well, the heaviness around his heart slowly getting lighter.

“And who is better for that than the only Slytherin-Potter?”, he teased and Albus nudged him in the ribs.

“You tell me.”

Scorpius grinned, nudging him back and Albus gave another one back, a little harder. 

“Stop,” Scorpius tried catching his hands, and Albus reluctantly stopped his attempts to tickle him and rested his head against his shoulder again. 

“Fine. I’m gonna save my energy for Defense Against the Dark Arts...”

They still had two lessons of that later on, he already dreaded to go and would rather spent the time down here, preferably with Scorpius at his side. He was rubbish at spells anyway and having missed almost a month of school stuff didn’t exactly help with that.

“Probably a good idea”, his friend mumbled, eyes not meeting his and Albus couldn’t help but feel he had done something wrong. Maybe too much physical contact?

He reluctantly shuffled a tad away from him. He should wait until Scorpius made the next move, this was exactly why he he didn’t, normally. Because he was exceptionally bad at this.

Taking a breath Albus turned his head to glance up at him and Scorpius looked back, meeting his eyes. He was incredibly close, closer than before, he could feel his breath on his face. Somewhere in the back of his head a voice whispered _kiss him_ , but he firmly decided to ignore it, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks. He wouldn’t. Not like this, not without asking first. Not without knowing that was what he wanted.

“We should probably get going”, Scorpius then said, interrupting his very much confusing thoughts. He got up, packing his books together and Albus surpressed a sigh, following his example. Stuffing his parchment and quill back in his bag, he suddenly heard something. It sounded almost like a whisper...

He cast Scorpius a glance who was busy trying to close the stuck zipper on his bag.

“Did you say something?”, he slowly asked, frowning softly. Scorpius raised his brows shaking his head.

“No... Ready?”

“Yeah...”, he mumbled, sorting through his books. “One second...”

Either he was just really tired and imagining things or he was slowly going– _Albus, can you hear me?_

Albus’ heart missed a beat and his book fell out of his hands, painfully landing on his foot. “Ow. Shit.” But he barely felt the pain in his foot. What the hell had that been just now? He could have sworn to have heard Delphi’s voice... But that was impossible, she was in Azkaban, hundreds of miles away from them. And he was simply really tired and that nightmare was still in his head somewhere and he had just imagined that. Simple as that.

“Everything okay?” Scorpius stepped next to him, a worried expression on his face. Albus nodded quickly, remembering his plan. He was fine.

“Yes. Just dropped it...” Before he could kneel down and grab his book again, Scorpius picked it up, holding it out for him, a soft smile on his lips.

“There you go.” 

“Thanks.”

He put it in his bag, closing it and forcing a smile into Scorpius’ direction. His throat felt weirdly tight and he tried taking a deep breath. He shouldn’t worry about it. It probably didn’t mean anything.

**

“Maybe you could ask Professor Bones...”, Scorpius suggested half heartedly, as they settled down on their seats in the last row in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Albus shot him a doubtful look, getting out his books and quill. He’d rather not do that. He could play it off as a question for an essay or something like that but he’d rather not risk that. She’d probably notice. And then alert his father, or even worse, St Mungo’s, all for nothing. He was fine, no need to tell anyone anything.

The topic for today would be Stunning Spells, like the writing on the black board read, something Albus wasn’t exactly good at, especially not in front of all of his class. He could only hope he wouldn’t make a total fool of himself.

They were ordered together in pairs, he slowly took a hold of Scorpius’ sleeve. “You’ll stay with me, right?”

Scorpius looked slightly surprised at this, but beamed at him. “Of course.”

Albus returned his smile relived. Maybe he hadn’t messed up everything after all. He supposed it was just that Scorpius needed to adjust to having him back and forget about everything Delphi had done. It probably was a bit weird for him too, he would try to understand that.

They positioned themselves opposite of each other, next to their classmates, Scorpius aimed his wand at him, an excited sparkle in his eyes. In contrary to him, he was quite good a spells when he wasn’t thinking about it too much.

“Ready?”, he asked, wiggling his wand and Albus gave a reluctant nod. After everything that happened to him, a stunning spell wouldn’t be too bad, he supposed.

“I’ll be gentle”, Scorpius grinned and Albus rolled his eyes, preparing to get hit by his spell and ignoring the blood shooting into his cheeks.

“Right.”

Scorpius cleared his throat dramatically. “ _Impedimenta!_ ”

The spell hit his chest and Albus stumbled a few steps back catching himself on a desk. It hadn’t been too harsh, maybe he had done that on purpose.

“Well done...”, he said, getting out his own wand and suppressing a sigh. Well, he’d just get this over with and then get back to pretending he was still practicing for the rest of the lesson.

Scorpius did a little bow, gesturing for him to try it. Albus pressed his lips together, tightly gripping his wand, aiming for Scorpius’ chest. _Here goes nothing_ , he thought.

_“Impedimenta!”_

A turquoise bolt shot out of his wand and hit Scorpius with such a force he was knocked off his feet and stumbled into the table behind him, knocking down several books and an ink bottle that shattered on the floor.

 

Albus was so surprised by it that for a moment he thought somebody else had hit his best friend with the spell. But peoples heads turned around, whispering excited, some clapped their hands, cheering.

Incredulously he stared at Scorpius who was slowly scrambling up from the floor, brushing off his robes, grimacing slightly.

“Ouch... that was unexpected.”

Albus blinked, snapping out of his rigid, rushing to Scorpius to help him up. "A-are you okay? I didn't, um, I didn't think it would be that strong... Sorry."

Strong? His spells normally weren't strong, if he even managed them at all. They were weak, usually earning him disappointing looks from his professors and a laugh from his classmates and he was long used to it being like that. But this just now... he had actually managed to stun Scorpius, without even trying or expecting it to work. He had never used that spell before, so why did it work so well now?

Scorpius was rubbing his elbow and Albus felt his heart get heavy with guilt. He hadn't meant to hurt him. He bit his lip, hesitantly touching his shoulder.

"I'm fine..." He tugged his hands inside his robes. "That was quite the spell..."

Albus nodded weakly, regarding his wand in his hand. He had borrowed it from his father. But this didn’t have anything to do with his wand, did it? Thinking of it, he hadn’t tried any spells since he left the hospital wing until now. The possibility was there. What else could it be?

“I’m sorry... I didn’t expected it to work at all...”, he mumbled again, watching the other students, slowly getting back to practicing. Their professor apparently hadn’t noticed anything, thankfully.

“It’s fine.” Scorpius repeated, softly shaking his head. “Really. Just... I didn’t expect that either.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Albus scoffed, gently pulling him along into the corner of the classroom where they could talk without being interrupted by their classmates. Scorpius looked at him expectantly, tugging his hair behind his ear.

“Well...”, Albus shifted uncomfortably, scrubbing the tip of his shoe against the floor. He needed to get this of his chest. 

“Couldn’t it be... that this is because of... her?”

Scorpius’ eyes grew wide, he shuffled closer. “Because of... her? Delphi?”

Albus nodded, his robes felt way too hot all of a sudden, he reached up to loosen his tie a bit. This couldn’t be a coincidence. First the thing with the snake and now this?

“Yeah? I mean... I don’t think it’s because of my dad’s wand.” He regarded it once more, feeling the unfamiliar weight in his hand. His father had told him they would be going to Diagon Alley soon and buy him his own new one, but it probably wouldn’t be until the Christmas Holidays. For now he had to do with this.

Scorpius chewed on his lips, apparently thinking. Albus crossed his arms, nervously waiting for him to say something. Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe this really had just been a coincidence and he was worrying about nothing. Delphi was gone. Locked in Azkaban and out of his head as well. She reversed that spell, it was over. Well, it should be over, anyway...

“That could be. You being able to understand Parseltongue and now this powerful spell...” He sighed softly and reached out for his arm, his fingers closing around his wrist. Albus’ heart sped up at the touch. “But it doesn’t have to mean anything, Albus.”

He lowered his voice, stepping even closer to make sure no one else was able to understand anything. “This was probably really dark magic. Could be you just need a while to, you know, get rid of all that...”

That sounded somewhat plausible. He nodded slowly, really hoping that was it. It made sense. And Scorpius knew about these things, he had read a thousand of books.

“Right”, he forced out and Scorpius gave a light smile.

“You wanna try it again?”

Albums grimaced, shaking his head. He’d rather not. Scorpius let go again and they parted, he got out his wand.

“Okay, but I won’t hold back this time”, he grinned and Albus shrugged his shoulders, gesturing for him to try.

“Go ahead.”

**

Albus was glad when the lesson ended and they headed down to dinner together. He tried not to think about the stunning incident too much, not when it didn’t lead to anything anyway. Scorpius babbled about a variety of other stunning spells he had read about and Albus felt like everything was slowly getting back to normal. But he caught his friend unobtrusively rubbing his back a few times and swallowed down the awful feeling of having hurt him, even if it had been accidentally.

“We have Divination tomorrow”, Scorpius reminded him, shoving a potato into his mouth. Albus rolled his eyes, pouring himself some more pumpkin juice. That was certainly something he hadn’t missed. Professor Trelawney tended to prophecy at least one death per lesson. He wouldn’t be surprised if him or Scorpius were the next ones.

“Can’t wait...”, he sighed, Scorpius grumbled in agreement.

“Yeah... We were supposed to write down our dreams and interpret them later on...”

Albus averted his eyes at that, crunching his nose. Right, he still had to make up some, he certainly wasn’t going to write down the real ones.

“We’ll invent some.” Scorpius said, as if he had read his thoughts, softly nudging his ribs and Albus nodded, a smile spreading on his lips. Sometimes he was just reminded of how incredibly glad he was to be friends with him.

Back in the common room, Scorpius immediately started with the dream essay, Albus joined him reluctantly. The sooner he was done with this the better. They settled down in two armchairs by the window in the corner.

“I dreamed of you last night”, Scorpius revealed after a while and Albus stopped chewing on the end of his quill to look up at him. His best friend was smiling at him, not the usual bright excited beam, but softer.

“Really?”, he asked, feeling a pleasent warmth creep into his cheeks. Scorpius nodded.

“What do you think that means?”

Albus stared at him, his eyes flickering down to his lips for the briefest of seconds and he quickly lowered his gaze, clearing his throat. He had really dreamed of him?

“Uhm... I don’t know. Probably that I’m about to betray you to a Dementor or something...”

Scorpius snorted, grinning, scribbling something down. “Yeah. Please don’t.”

He hesitated for a moment, then put down his quill. “No, actually...” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s because you’re always on my mind.”

Albus blinked, he definitely hadn’t expected that. Scorpius voice was so unusually serious, his eyes looking back into his with a hint of shyness and a lot of honesty.

“Am I...?”, he hesitantly asked, chuckling weakly. Scorpius nodded, playing with the end of his sleeve, like he always did when he was nervous.

“Yes. I’m... constantly thinking of you.”

There was a faint pink blush on his cheeks and his eyes looked everywhere but at him, now and then flickering over his face. Albus rested his head on his hand, couldn’t help but stare at him. Well, he thought of him too. Quite often. About everything they had been through together, about how scared he was for him back in Godric’s Hollow, about how much he missed him in Azkaban and about that terrible hour in the Owlery, when he had never left his side. And about how to go on from here.

“I’m... well, I’m thinking about you too...” He gave him a slightly nervous smile back, playing with the quill in his hands.

Scorpius’ grin was back. “Are you?”

He nodded, lightly shrugging his shoulders. His stomach was fluttering with butterflies.

“Yes... You give me a lot to think about.”

Scorpius blushed even deeper and chuckled softly, averting his eyes to the other side of the room. “Like what?”

Albus swallowed, pulling his chair a tiny bit closer to him. He knew he wasn’t good in talking about his feelings, he rarely even did so, which had caused them a ton of problems already. But now it was different. He had managed to do it in the hospital wing, he could do it now too.

“About... how lucky I am to... to have you.” He met his grey eyes, face burning hot. Scorpius had the softest smile on his lips, he leaned closer over the table and Albus heart did a double take, thinking he was actually going in to kiss him, when his hands brushed against his ink bottle knocking it all over his essay.

“Oh... oh no.” His eyes grew wide as the ink seeped into his parchment, making the words unreadable. Albus bit his lip, doing his best to hold back a grin.

“Oops. There goes your dream...”

“No, no.” Scorpius declared confidently, getting out his wand and waving it at the paper. A few drops of ink disappeared.

Albus shrugged helplessly. He’d probably set the whole table on fire if he tried to save it.

“Ah, well...” Scorpius slammed his book shut, crumbling the parchment in his hands and throwing it into the fire. Albus watched surprised as it slowly burned to ashes.

“Let’s start again.”

Albus gathered some courage, shifting a bit closer to him. “Your fault for staring at me like that.”

“I wasn’t _staring_...”, he started stammering, snapping right back into his usual behavior. “Just... you know, admiring my best friend and uh... thinking how incredibly lucky I am to have you, too.”

“Are you?”, he asked a lot more doubtful than intended. He wasn’t exactly what he would call a good friend. But Scorpius nodded fiercely, pulling out a fresh piece of parchment at which Albus stared at unimpressed. He still hadn’t started. How did Scorpius always find the motivation to do stuff like this? Right, he reminded himself, he actually wanted to pass his OWLs next year.

“Of course. You’re the best friend I could possibly have, Albus Severus Potter.”

Albus snorted at the mention of his full name, softly hitting his shoulder. “Right. Scorpius _what-was-it-again_  Malfoy.”

“Come on, you know my middle name”, Scorpius grinned, tried poking him with his quill, Albus tried taking it from his hand before he could suffer any serious injuries.

“You’re gonna spill your ink again, stop it!”

Scorpius put it down, sticking out his tongue at him. “I take it back. You’re an awfully bad friend.”

Albus threw a pillow at him and Scorpius bravely blocked it off, it sailed to the ground, almost into the fireplace if it weren’t for Scorpius foot that stopped it in the last second. Albus met his slightly panicked eyes and they both burst out laughing.

“Wow, that was _almost_ a disaster”, he snickered and Albus leaned back, enjoying how light he suddenly felt. Like all the weird stuff that happened today wasn’t that bad, like it didn’t matter. As if everything had finally returned to normal, just him and Scorpius spending their evening in front of the cozy fireplace and doing their homework.

“Almost.”

He looked over at him, watching his best friends face. The fire cast a soft warm light on it, making his eyes shine and his hair look golden. He looked ridiculously handsome right now. Of course he would never tell him that.

But he had long noticed how good his friend could look. With his pale blond hair and thin face and radiant smile. If he only noticed himself. But Scorpius always waved everything off like a joke. He supposed it was some sort of protective mechanism, after all the years of snarky comments and bullying.

Perhaps he actually _could_ tell him. He deserved to know he was beautiful. So he cleared his throat, leaning a tiny bit closer.

“Scorpius?” Then his mind sort of went blank. Scorpius looked up, he had been silently staring into the flames for the last minute, a soft content smile on his lips.

“Uhm... you look very good.”

Immediately he felt stupid. That probably hadn’t been the best approach. But since when was he especially good at that?

Scorpius blinked, his eyes curious, the fire was reflecting in them, the usual grey appearing a warm orange. Albus tried a smile, that probably came out as very awkward.

“Sorry...”, he got out, the silence felt way too uncomfortable. “I just... well, noticed. I mean, I didn’t just notice _now_ , but... I sort of... wanted to tell you. Now.”

Scorpius tilted his head, a strand of blond hair fell into his face and Albus resisted the urge to stroke it behind his ear, like he always did himself. He was wearing a slightly confused expression. Albus was sure his face was as red as the Gryffindor house colors by now.

“I mean– you’re beautiful, Scorpius. Inside and out. And I thought... I, uh, just let you know that...”

There was a soft smile spreading on his friends lips, he slowly raised his brows. He was horrible at this. Scorpius surely thought he was joking.

“I know”, he then said and it was Albus’ turn to blink confused. Scorpius was grinning widely. “That’s actually my middle name, you know? Malfoy the Beautiful. Inside and out. In parentheses.”

Albus snorted, burying his face in his hands. He was too much sometimes.

“You’re such an idiot...”, he muttered through his fingers, before an amused giggle followed after.

“Sorry.” He felt his finger grabbing his wrist again, pulling down his hands and met his eyes. “No, really. Thanks. That’s nice of you, Al.”

Albus gave an embarassed smile and a little nod, settling closer to him and Scorpius kept holding onto his hands, eventually lacing his fingers through his. He noticed how soft his hand felt, how gentle he stroked over his and his heart did a jump.

For a moment none of them said anything and Albus felt his eyelids slowly falling shut. He hadn’t noticed how tired he was before, but he supposed a lot had happened today and his body still needed to adjust to being up all day and function.

“Are you tired?”, came Scorpius’ quiet voice, he gave a lazy nod, allowing his eyes to close for a moment. Scorpius then gave a sigh and he heard him pick up his paper again.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

Albus eyes snapped open again, wandering over to him.

“What?”

“Your dream essay. I’ll do it for you.” 

Scorpius was already scribbling words down again, the ink bottle balancing dangerously on the armrest of his chair.

“Really?”, he asked and couldn’t quite hide the relief in his voice. Scorpius nodded, shooting him a brief smile.

“Sure. That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Right. Thank you, Scorpius.” Albus would have pulled him into a hug if they wouldn’t be sitting. Instead he just got up, grabbing his bag and gently trailing his hand over his shoulder. “You’re the best.”

At that, Scorpius’ face visibly sunk. He closed his eyes, hand tightly closing around his quill, then lightly shook his head. “Don’t... say that.”

Albus frowned. Why not? It was the truth. He buried his hands in his pockets, trying to read his expression. “Uhm... Sorry?”

Scorpius rapidly shook his head, giving him a shaky smile. “It’s not... I mean... she said that. To me. As well. It’s not your fault, really...”

Albus swallowed at that, averting his eyes to the flames, not knowing what to say. Scorpius took a silent deep breath.

“It’s fine. Go to bed, you’re gonna fall asleep standing up.”

“You’ll come when you’re done?”

“Yup”, Scorpius said without looking up. Albus hesitated for a second, not knowing if it was appropriate to hug him now. Perhaps Delphi did that as well. How was he supposed to know if Scorpius didn’t tell him? Well, he could understand why he didn't, but still...

“O-Kay. Good night.”

“Good Night...”

Albus bit his lip, forcing himself to turn around and go. He knew Scorpius long enough, he could tell he wanted to be left alone now. He believed he did. They would talk about it later. It would probably take a while but they’d both forget about this. He’d do everything he could for that to happen.

When Albus went to bed that evening, he couldn’t have known that the worst was yet to come.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter, I hoped you liked it. Let me know what u think in a comment! ;)
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
> 
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	2. Scorpius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius is doing his best trying to make Albus feel better about the events of the last day. Little does he know that far worse trouble is already waiting...

When Scorpius woke up in the morning he felt exceptionally well rested. He hadn’t slept that good in quite a few days. Apparently Albus presence was enough to let him sleep like a baby at night. A quick glance over to the bed next to his, showed him that his friend was still peacefully asleep, blanket pulled up to his chin, his chest moving in a steady rhythm. Scorpius turned to the side, watching his face. He looked so peaceful. His dark hair was a mess, his lips slightly parted and his eyebrows drawn together slightly, as if he was concentrating on something. 

He wouldn’t wake him just yet, his best friend deserved some sleep. He had been through far too much, first the whole time-turner fiasco, then Delphi and now this...

He hadn’t forgotten what happened yesterday, in Transfiguration and in Defense Against the Dark Arts, he had seen the scared expression on Albus’ face, no matter how unbothered by it all he had pretended to be. He knew it was worrying him, he didn’t know what it meant and in all honesty it was scaring Scorpius too. Talking to snakes was one thing, suddenly managing a very powerful spell another, but doing it both after having switched bodies with Voldemort’s daughter was definitely concerning. 

He understood Albus didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself, he didn’t want anyone, especially not his father, to worry about him _again_ , but he wasn’t sure if not telling anyone about it would solve the problem. He didn’t think it would just go away. If there even was a real problem...

Still, he supposed he couldn’t just decide for him. Maybe he had to persuade him, if Albus’ stubbornness got the better of him. If something worse happened. And if all failed he could still write his dad again. He didn’t even know if his last letter ever arrived... 

Shuddering at the thought he pushed off his blanket, averting his eyes from Albus’ sleeping figure.

Whatever happened, they would figure out a way to solve it. They always did.

Suppressing a yawn, Scorpius slowly sat up, running his hand through his hair before reaching for his robes. He’d just be as quiet as possible, giving him a few more minutes to sleep and–

“Scorpius...?”, came Albus’ tired voice a moment later, forcing him to discard his plan immediately. So much for letting him rest. “You’re up already...?”

Halfway into pulling his sweater over his head, he answered with a muffled: “I just woke up.”

Albus hummed softly, sitting up in his bed. He still looked tired, his hair was sticking into every direction, he rubbed his eyes, which had dark circles underneath. 

“Slept well?”, Scorpius carefully asked, scooting to the edge of the bed. Stupid question probably, he for sure didn’t look like he did. Albus pushed back his blanket, grabbing his clothes. He paused for a moment at his question, then shook his head.

“No. I think I’ve had a nightmare. Can’t remember though.”

“That’s good. I-I mean, not the nightmare thing, of course. The not remembering thing...”

Scorpius bit his tongue to stop himself from talking. Albus gave him a tired smile, not even bothering to get up from

his bed while dressing himself. He pulled his t-shirt over his head, throwing it aside and Scorpius couldn’t help but stare. Not because it was his best friend undressing in front of him and he had just admitted his feelings for him last week and was now seeing him half naked, but because of the pale white scars still running over his upper body, disappearing under the waistband of his pants. His father had said they would eventually vanish with the salve Madam Pomfrey gave him, but until now it didn’t look like it. Perhaps it just needed more time. At least it didn’t seem to hurt.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t know what, so he shut it again. Albus quietly finished dressing himself, getting up and shambled over to sit down next to him.

“It was about Delphi, I think...” He ran his hand over his face, into his hair, letting out a soft sigh. Scorpius glanced at him, trying not to let his worry show too much. 

“Not surprising, is it?” He carefully regarded Albus’ face. He really looked exhausted. He was yawning again, slowly blinking like he’d fall asleep again any minute. 

“I mean, I’ve dreamed of her. A couple of times...” Scorpius continued, hoping maybe that would make him feel better. He slid a bit closer to him, Albus turned his head and met his eyes, they were wider than usual.

“Did you?”

Scorpius gave a short nod. It was inevitable, really, after everything she had put them through. She had visited him in his nightmares multiple times, one dream worse than the other. They always included Albus as well and mostly ended with either of them dying. It was almost a miracle he had slept so peacefully last night...

“Well, it was quite traumatizing”, he added into the silence and Albus let out a weak laugh, that didn’t reach his tired eyes.

“Yeah. Quite.”

Scorpius swallowed. That look on Albus’ face was new. He was staring at the ground, his shoulders slumped, the green of his eyes strangely dull. He seemed worried, sad even.

“Albus...?” He leaned closer, softly nudging his arm. Albus took a shaky breath that sounded almost like a silent sob and for a terrible second he thought he had started crying. But his friend lifted his head, giving him a tiny smile.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

Scorpius returned his smile, not convinced by his words. He didn’t look like it. “Okay. May we, um... should we... hug?”

Albus’ eyes lit up at that and Scorpius promptly wrapped his arms around his waist, squeezing him tightly. Albus let out a chuckle that sounded much more like him and hugged him back, Scorpius could feel him resting his head on his shoulder and closed his eyes for a bit.

It didn’t matter what kind of confession that had been between them in the hospital wing. They were still friends and nothing could ever change that. He knew when Albus needed him and the other way around and this was undoubtedly one of these moments. It didn’t have to be weird or different between them. 

Albus patted his back before leaned back and playfully hitting his shoulder, lips curling into a soft smile. “I’m glad we’re doing that now. Hugging. Feels good.”

Scorpius beamed back at him, lightly shoving him back. “Doesn’t it? We’ve gotta keep doing that.”

Albus chuckled and nodded and Scorpius stared back into his emerald eyes, for a moment lost in his gaze and his familiar smell that surrounded him. 

“Breakfast?” Albus then asked and he blinked, snapping out of his thoughts and nodded fiercely. He felt his cheeks getting hot, hoping he hadn’t noticed him staring.

“Yeah, sure. I’m hungry. Starving. Let’s go.”

Albus grinned, pulling him up from the bed. “Let’s go.”

Scorpius let himself get pulled along, watching his friend from the side. Did he imagine or was he already looking a bit better?

**

As soon as they entered the Great Hall together, heads turned to them from every direction. Albus immediately tensed up and Scorpius overcame the sudden urge t grasp his hand for comfort. He didn’t though, it would probably only lead to more attention and he doubted Albus would appreciate that.

“I kind of want to go back to bed”, Albus mumbled into his direction, burying his hands deep in his pockets.

Scorpius hummed in agreement, dodging the foot a Gryffindor boy had put out for him to trip over in the last second. He disliked the attention too, he couldn’t stand people staring at him and he still wasn’t used to it. It would probably never end. 

Of course the fight in the Owlery and what followed after hadn’t gone unnoticed. People had always talked about them and now, apparently, they were even more. The news of what happened had spread quickly and the press wasn’t exactly helping. There was a variety of rumors and half the school believed the whole band of it. He had expected nothing else and really, it couldn’t get any worse. One insult more or less didn’t make a difference, no matter what it was about.

True, yesterday at Transfiguration and the last couple of days, the other students, at least the Slytherins, had been surprisingly friendly to him. Well, not exactly friendly but they had tolerated him and Albus, too. He was convinced Professor Slughorn or another one of the Head of the Houses had spoken to them, telling them to not bother them too much. He supposed, he would see how long that lasted. 

They sat down at the middle of the table, to not have to walk through even more rows of gaping students. Scorpius tried ignoring the whispering of the students close by as he reached for a toast. 

Albus beside him let out a sigh, bowing his head to escape the curious looks of their classmates. He kept staring at his empty plate, a contemplative look in his eyes. 

Scorpius believed to know what he was thinking. He softly nudged him with his elbow. “Toast?”

Albus softly shook his head, pulling his hands inside his sleeves, resting his head on them. “Not hungry...”

“You should eat something though. You know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, my mum used to say all the time.” He placed the toast on his plate nonetheless. 

Albus eyed it reluctantly. “Hm. Thanks. You’re probably right."

Scorpius smiled triumphantly, biting of his own toast with jam. “I am.”

Albus shot him a brief smile and loaded some bacon onto his plate and Scorpius felt a bit better.

He couldn’t tell exactly what was going on in Albus’ head at this very moment, but was a really good guesser and he knew him since almost five years now. Plus, he had been with him through, almost, all this. It was obvious his friend was still bothered by yesterday’s events. He probably couldn’t stop thinking about it and worrying about why that happened and certainly nightmares didn’t help with that. Even if he said he couldn’t remember them. Scorpius had a vague idea of what he must feel like, even though he hadn’t went through the horrors that were Azkaban and getting hit by a unknown curse, that made him exchange bodies with someone.

Albus didn’t talk about it much, what it was like in prison, just like he rarely talked about that time line where Voldemort ruled. But he knew how it felt to be absolutely hopeless and he hoped Albus knew that. For now, maybe distraction was a good idea. 

Clearing his throat Scorpius shuffled a bit closer to him, turning to him and neatly ignoring the stares of the students opposite of them.

“We have double Divination later. Amazing, right?”

He carefully watched Albus reaction, his best friend rolled his eyes, picking up some bacon with his fork. 

“Great. Can’t wait to tell Trelawney about my awesome dreams.” 

Scorpius’ felt his heart sinking heavily to his stomach. Perhaps that hadn’t been the best attempt. Still, he was determined to make him feel better. Taking a sip of pumpkin juice he quickly thought about what to say.

“Yes. Me neither. Want to know what I wrote down for you?”

Albus gave a nod, eyeing him from the side, chewing on his bacon. Scorpius thought back to last evening, remembering the rubbish he had scribbled onto Albus’ essay. Professor Trelawney never seemed to notice when something didn’t make much sense so it had been quite the easy task. Although Albus had given him a pretty bad Déjà-vu before he went to bed last night. He wasn’t mad at him or anything, he couldn’t have known that Delphi had used almost the exact same words to thank him. It didn’t matter anymore.

“Well... Last night you dreamed of a Phoenix who stole your chocolate frogs”, he explained, watching a smile creep onto Albus’ lips and his heart did an excited jump. “According to the book, robbery refers to unfaithful servants and bad influences and you shouldn’t trust your friends under any circumstances.”

“Wow”, Albus grinned, sitting up a bit, what Scorpius considered a success.

“A Phoenix however means you can rely on your friends and all your problems will be solved”, he continued, failing to remain serious, the end of the sentence coming out as a laugh.

Albus snorted, putting his hand on his wrist, eyes sparkling with amusement.

“I knew it! You’re always after my sweets. I wouldn’t even be surprised if one day I woke up and they’re all gone."

“I would never”, Scorpius blinked in fake shock, while most of his mind could only concentrate on his friends warm fingers around his wrist. 

“Of course not. I’m gonna hide them in the future”, Albus grinned, nudging his ribs, before returning his attention to his food.

Scorpius simply nodded, not able to stop smiling now that Albus was too. He loved his smile. _Loved_. A word that meant a lot but he was sure it was the right one.

“Let’s see what Trelawney has to say about that”, Albus said, shoving the last piece of bacon into his mouth with his fork. Scorpius was almost sure she would find some kind of explanation, she always did somehow.

After they both had finished with breakfast, they left the Great Hall and made their way to the second floor where they would have History of Magic today. Albus was telling him about a book about magical creatures he had read in the hospital wing on their climb up the staircases, a sign he was definitely feeling better than this morning. Even though they were on their way to the, according to Albus, most boring subject to have ever existed. To Scorpius it was the best subject there could be.

“Did you know there’s this thing, that has a horn with some sort of explosive liquid in it and when it comes in contact with something–“

“It explodes? Yeah, an Erumpent.”

Albus rolled his eyes at that and Scorpius suppressed a grin, feeling his cheeks warming up at not having been able to hold himself back. 

Albus softly shook his head. “You’re such a nerd, you know that?”

“I do”, he grinned, widening his arms. “But that’s what you love about me, isn’t it?"

Albus promptly got quite red in the face and Scorpius stared at him, grinning triumphantly. His friend wasn’t easily to embarrass. 

“Sure...”, Albus mumbled, looking the other way, as if the brick wall had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.

Scorpius couldn’t help but keep watching him. The way his green eyes seemed to look everywhere but back into his and his lips curled up into that little adorable smile. Scorpius was sure he was melting. And tripping because he had just skipped the last step of the stairs while gaping at Albus.

His friend laughed loudly and Scorpius thankfully managed to catch himself on the handrail. 

“Oops...”, he mumbled, feeling his cheeks heat up and hoped he hadn’t noticed. Albus grinned at him, wrapping one arm around his shoulders in an empathetic way.

“I definitely don’t love that about you.”

**

History of Magic passed too quickly, Scorpius was almost sad when Professor Binns told the class to put away their books and finish their homework until next time. Albus on the other hand looked massively relieved. He had caught his friend zoning out a few times during the Professors never ending speeches. 

“Do you think that’ll be in the OWL’s next year?”, he asked thoughtfully as they were on their way out of the classroom, already imagining himself in midst tons of books about the Ogre Wars of England.

“I hope not.” Albus looked mortified at just the mention of the OWL’s, he adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder. “They’re in a year... Why are you already thinking about that?”

Scorpius shrugged, he supposed he just wanted to be prepared. It was never to early to start studying after all. Especially not for something so important.

“We lost a lot of time. We have to catch up. They’re important for our future.”

They had indeed missed a lot of lessons and certainly a lot very important ones. He was confident they’d manage to catch up, but still. 

“Sure, mum.”, Albus teased, rolling his eyes playfully. Scorpius reached out to hit his arm but Albus dodged him with a giggle. “Stop! We have plenty of time. You’re always so overly worried, it’ll be fine.”

Scorpius nodded reluctantly, knowing he was right. But him worrying about school definitely meant everything was finally going back to normal. 

 

Todays topic in Divination was reading tea leaves and Scorpius had been staring into his empty cup of tea for over an hour now. Not surprisingly without success. At the beginning he _may_ have seen some shapes in it but the closer he looked the more it just looked like brown rubbish. Albus apparently had given up right from the start, he wasn’t even trying to participate anymore, his cup stood discarded in the middle of the table. His best friend was resting his chin on his hand, visibly trying to keep his eyes open. 

Scorpius suppressed a smirk, leaning closer and whispering: “And? Seen anything yet?”

Albus just grumbled in response. Scorpius sighed, grabbing his cup and tilting it back and forth. The rest of the tea mixed with the leaves, resulting in a sad brown mush. 

“Mine could be... a... cloud...?” He frowned, lifting it a bit closer to his eyes.

Albus just snorted, rubbing his eyes. “Hmm, it’s gonna rain.”

Scorpius smiled in amusement, putting down his cup. “It’s useless. I’m just going to pretend I’m writing something down.”

Albus nodded softly, his eyes falling shut. “Good idea...”

Scorpius smiled, grabbing his quill and scribbling on his paper, now and then looking at the book as if he was copying something. Solid method, worked all the time.

Professor Trelawney was walking around and looking over the students shoulders, now and then giving comments whenever she spotted something mildly interesting. So far no one was going to die a horrible death soon. Scorpius just hoped she wouldn’t come over to them or that probably wouldn’t last long. And he would have to wake Albus and he’d rather not because his friend already looked peacefully asleep. He supposed after the nightmare that night, he deserved that.

Scorpius carefully pulled his parchment from under his elbow over to him, writing something down as well. Now it at least looked like they did something. He’d rather have History of Magic again, it was much more interesting. Why did they take Divination again? Oh yes, he remembered, because according to Albus they _don’t have to do anything there, it’ll be easy_. Well, he wasn’t wrong. 

He glanced at his best friend, who was far more interesting than the tea leaves, a smile spreading on his lips.

At least he seemed to be slowly feel better. He knew it would take time – for both of them – to forget everything that happened and move on, but he was certain they would manage. Together.

Unfortunately, he was now getting quite sleepy as well. Resting his chin on his hands he sighed, tiredly staring into nothingness until his lids slowly fell shut.

Suddenly Albus beside him gave a jolt and jerked up his head, and Scorpius almost fell of his chair. He looked around in mild panic for Trelawney but she was still on the other side of the room. Whirling around to his friend, he tried to figure out what was wrong. “Albus?”

Albus was staring straight ahead, hands gripping onto the table plate, he was as white as Trelawneys tea set. Scorpius grabbed his arm, alarmed, shuffling closer to him. He promptly felt reminded of yesterday, when he stormed out of Transfiguration, the look of fear in his eyes was the exact same. 

“Hey... what’s wrong?” He kept his voice down, not wanting to alert the other students or the professor.

“I...”, Albus breathed out, blinking rapidly, his voice barely a whisper. “I just...” He squeezed his eyes shut, burying his face in his hands and Scorpius felt a wave of panic overcoming him. 

“What? Albus, what’s wrong?” He grabbed his wrist, softly shaking his best friend. He wasn’t in pain, was he?

Albus seemed frozen in place, not saying anything, even when he grabbed his shoulders, turning him to him. “Albus, what’s going on? Does something hurt?”

Even though his head was spinning and his heart was racing in upcoming panic, he knew he needed to be calm in order to get Albus to talk. He pried his hands of his face but Albus had shut his eyes.

“Albus, talk to to me, please. I can help you.”

“Scorpius–“, he choked out but before he could continue the bell rang, ending the lesson. It was then Albus snapped out of his rigid, jumping up from his chair, shoving his books into his bag. His eyes were wide with fear, he was trembling violently and looking like one of the Hogwarts ghosts himself. Grabbing his arm he pulled him along, out of the room, before Scorpius could even say anything and pushed him into a little niche on the corridor. 

Albus’ fingers dug into his arms as he pulled him closer, letting out a shuddering breath. Scorpius could only stare at him, certainly not expecting his next words. 

“I-I just heard her voice. In my head. D-Delphi’s.”

Scorpius blinked a few times, feeling like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over his head. “What?”, he breathed out, placing his hands on his shoulders. “A-Are you sure?"

Albus nodded frantically, staring at him with wide eyes, the grip on his arms painful, he was almost clinging to his robes. 

“Yes! Scorpius–“, his voice was shaking, he stepped even closer, Scorpius held his breath. His panic was infectious. He had never seen his friend so agitated.

“I can _hear_ her voice! Why is she still here?”

Scorpius wanted to shake his head and assure him everything was fine, but the words never made it past his lips. He didn’t have an explanation for this. 

Albus looked like he was on the verge of crying, he took another wobbly step forward and Scorpius impulsively wrapped his arms around him, he didn’t look like he could stand much longer. 

His best friend took a shaky breath and his voice was thick with tears when he spoke again.

“I’m g-going crazy, aren’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the second chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments!  
> The next chapter is gonna be longer and more eventful ;)
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [YourDearOldFriend's Tumblr](https://yourdearoldfriend.tumblr.com/)


	3. Delphi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delphi discovers that her thoughts aren't the only thing she shares with Albus.

 

Delphi pulled the thin blanket tighter around her shivering body once more, it didn’t do much to warm her. She had moved the dirty mattress into the far corner of the cell, to avoid the ice cold rain that came splashing through the bars and the wind howling through the corridor outside.

She had lost track off how long she had been in here, maybe a week, probably longer. It was dark outside, a thunder was rumbling in the distance, the rain hadn’t stopped in days. Her stomach was aching for something to eat and her throat felt dry from the lack of water. 

The last time the guards had pushed a plate with a stale piece of bread and a cup of water into her cell seemed ages ago. Her back was hurting from the hard surface she was forced to sleep on, her shoulder stung painfully from an injury she didn’t even know the cause of.

And it was absolutely impossible to fall asleep like this. Every time she closed her eyes, they would snap open a few seconds later, woken up from the storm outside or a guard shushing a scream of one of the other prisoners.

So naturally Delphi had been fully awake when she had suddenly heard a voice. Quiet, far away, almost like a whisper. Albus Potter’s. It had gotten louder after a while, only fragments of sentences, then slowly complete thoughts. At first she had thought she was hallucinating because of her lack of sleep or food, but it made too much sense to not be real.

Turning onto her back she stared up at the grey ceiling, tiredly blinking and watching a spider spinning its web in the corner.

It felt like a wall in her head had broken in, allowing Albus’ thoughts to inexorably flood her mind. And apparently he felt the same way, considering the panicked thoughts she was receiving.

An after effect of the curse she used on them, she hadn’t expected. And seemingly neither of them were able to control it. But it was only logical. After they had switched their bodies back, at Hogwarts in that Owlery, some part of Albus had to have remained inside her head. And that probably meant a part of her was with the boy as well. She hadn’t expected something like this, but everything had happened so fast back then.

Delphi shuddered when a cold gust of wind blew through the cell and made some of the dust whirl over the ground. It was so hard to concentrate on something other than her misery in here...

She hadn’t went on to this adventure with Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy unprepared and she certainly wouldn’t have done something like this without a plan B, in case something went wrong in the end.

Which it did, she definitely hadn’t planned on meeting the adult Harry Potter in Godric’s Hollow nor loosing the resulting fight against him. But she wasn’t as stupid as to fight against him without a back up plan up her sleeve. In this case it had been switching bodies with his son who fortunetely had been present there as well, good thing she hadn’t been able to kill him earlier. She had used an old spell she had found years ago, in a book about Dark Magic she had gotten from her stepfather, together with countless other spells, most of them self invented, some worked and some didn’t, she hadn’t tried all of them out yet. But she had remembered them all and in that moment, in the middle of that fight in the church, it had been that one that came to her mind first.

And it had worked perfectly fine at first. Playing Harry Potter’s son, going to school while his real child had been sent to Azkaban, trapped in her body. But of course, and if she was honest with herself she had known that beforehand, it couldn’t work for long. His family or his friend had been bound to see through it at some point. And when that point came she had done some really quick thinking.

Delphi had studied Harry Potter for years, in fact since she found out about who she was and even before that a little bit. She knew she had to know as much as possible about him if she wanted to beat him, especially if she wanted to meddle with his past. So, naturally she had discovered his greatest weakness which had been coincidently the same as his son’s: friendship. Or rather: love.

It had been obvious Harry Potter had been devastated when he found out his son wasn’t who he pretended to be. So she had no other choice than to provoke him some more, threaten his son and make him feel even guiltier until his urge for revenge had been stronger than his logical thinking.

She didn’t know what exact spell he had used in their second duel but had managed to fire the fitting counter curse at Albus at the same time. She had been fairly sure it was a dangerous one, judging his expression and just had to risk it. She never thought Harry would actually seriously hurt his son, even if it had been her in his body. But she had been wrong.

Albus had been hurt, badly. Scorpius had fainted, being useless as ever and she had been sent to Azkaban. Without a trial, without any chance to explain herself, straight into the high security section of the prison building. And it really was as horrible as her stepfather had told her after he had been released.

Being Lord Voldemort’s daughter meant the constant presence of guards in front of her cell, getting meals no more than two times a week instead of four and no one even willing to take a look at her still injured shoulder. The wound had healed a bit but not as good as it would with a quick spell. She figured it had happened when Harry and Albus had apparated somewhere, most likely to Hogwarts. Splinching, she believed it was called. She had never experienced such a thing before.

Hearing the Potter’s boy’s thoughts in her head cleared some things up. He had survived this curse his father used and unfortunately was back to full health. And it appeared the Malfoy boy was as well, according to the pieces of thoughts she could hear. Probably because Albus was. Their relationship seemed to work that way.

It did make sense. There was no explanation to why they had this sort of connection, other than it being an aftermath of the curse she used. The problem was that she couldn’t remember if there was anything written about that in her book. Not almost starving and freezing to death in a cell. And she didn’t have any excess to anything but her memory now which was terribly frustrating.

Did she? Perhaps she actually _did_ have access to something else. Or rather, someone else. Albus was weak, especially after what happened to him. Maybe she was more lucky than she thought at first. Surely there was a way to get deeper into his thoughts, maybe even control them. Hurt him or get to Harry Potter in some way. Was that possible from so far away? And without a wand at hand?

Delphi’s gaze flew over to the guards in front of her cell, their backs turned to her. She knew she couldn’t simply steal one. There probably were dozens of spells on the bars and she’d rather not risk another injury.

And the possibility was still there that this were just the after effects which would wear off after a while. Curses had that sometimes, especially old ones, even when the counter curse was spoken. Maybe this was only temporary.

Closing her eyes, she let out a deep sigh. The swell of words didn’t stop, Albus apparently had a lot of thoughts. Panicked ones. Which meant he was hearing hers as well.

_Is she doing this? How do I stop this? Take control of me?_

Indeed he heard that. She had to be careful what to think of in the future. Clutching the blanket, she tried imagining a mental image of the boy.

_Albus. Can you hear me?  
_

For this to work she had to know more about this and get closer to him. Reach out to him and figure out how this worked. And stop thinking of her plans, she reminded herself. It wouldn’t be good if he knew of them.

She assumably didn’t have much time. Albus would sooner or later alert his father and Harry Potter would do everything he could to protect his son and if he came here and made sure of it himself.

_My dad. I have to tell my dad._ Exactly. Or Scorpius already knew what this was. He was undoubtly smarter and having a father who had been engaged in the Dark Arts surely could be of some help too. Although she strongly believed he would search the whole school library for a fitting book first.

_Albus. Can. You. Hear. Me?_ Delphi tried to think of nothing else, to make it easier. Perhaps they weren’t even able to communicate with each other, maybe it were only the thoughts.

_But she’s in Azkaban.  
_

She didn’t seem to reach him properly. There had to be another way. Slowly sitting up Delphi ignored the black dots blurring her vision and leaned against the wall without trying to move her shoulder too much.

She tried remembering everything she knew about Occlumency and Legilimency. It was the closest thing to this situation, she knew something about. The most important thing however, was closeness. And she was miles away from Albus. Plus, she had never tried it without a wand. This was something different, another kind of magic.

_What does she want?_

How was this working? His voice was so clear, as if he was standing right next to her. And her head slowly started hurting from this. Or perhaps it was just the dehydration setting in again.

She had to use more force. Force him to answer.  _I know you can hear me, Albus. Answer me.  
_

He didn’t answer, not how she would have liked him to.

_I can’t breathe. We’ll miss Potions. Scorpius._

He obviously was scared. That wasn’t a surprise. Scared of her and what this meant, what was happening to him. He was telling Scorpius, she assumed. And worrying about school for some reason.

But ignoring it wouldn’t make it go away. _Try to answer me. Concentrate._

She bit her lip, listening closely. His thoughts were all over the place.

_She talks to me. What is this? What if I’m just going crazy?_

_You’re not._  Delphi closed her eyes again, clearly picturing Albus’ face. _Answer me_. It was quiet for a second. Then:

_Delphi? Can you hear me? This is so stupid. I shouldn’t say anything._

She straightened up, smiling triumphantly. There we go. _Yes! I can._

His voice was quiet, but it was enough, she could hear him perfectly. Her heart sped up excitedly, that was progress. A pleasant feeling after all the hunger.

_Is she doing this? Are you doing this?_

_Not on purpose. I started hearing your voice out of nowhere. You can hear me too, can’t you? Everything?_ She needed to know as much as possible. If he only heard what she wanted him to, if there was a way to control this. Because if there was, this could be her chance.

_I can hear your voice like you’re here with me. Not everything. Some things. You were thinking about my dad and me weren’t you? Earlier._

Interesting. So he didn’t hear everything but also not exclusively what she wanted him to hear. She had to be careful with this.

_I’ve got to tell my dad.  
_

_You shouldn’t._ She had to win more time. And it was probably best if she started executing her plan right now.

_Harry Potter doesn’t have the solution for everything, Albus. He didn’t even heal you after slicing you up. And you really think he can help with this?_ She had to make him reconsider this. He had to feel completely alone. Devastated.

_That’s not true. It was an accident. She’s lying. Shut up._

She grinned. _I’m not. Where was your father when they dragged you into Azkaban? When I killed that student?_

The brief silence following after said everything. She leaned back, tugging her useless blanket closer. The storm outside was slowly wearing off, it was getting a bit brighter, finally.

_Craig. She’s doing this on purpose. I have to stop this.  
_

Was he talking to Scorpius again? Was he telling him everything she said? Scorpius was most likely trying to help him somehow. Probably suggesting to get his father too.

_Why are you doing this?_ He then asked and she believed to detect a hint of anger in his thoughts. If this was possible.

_I’m not doing this. It’s because of the curse, Albus._ Hopefully he had figured that much. _Do you think I want to hear your pathetic thoughts all the time?_

_Then make it stop. I don’t want to hear you either. It’s freaking me out._

She didn’t know if he had wanted her to hear that last bit. It was difficult to tell. _I would if I knew how. Maybe. I’d rather not share my mind with you, thank you._

_You don’t know how? Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t have her in my mind forever._

_Could be this is simply the aftermath of the curse and will wear off in a couple of days._

_Really? Okay. I’m fine. It’ll be fine._

Delphi scoffed, earning herself a glare from one of the guards outside. She couldn’t stand them staring at her with this disgusted expression. She’d almost say she would prefer Dementors at least they didn’t have eyes and couldn’t speak. _Maybe it will be like this forever. Maybe I’ll be in your head until you die._ She doubted that was the case. Mainly because even if this wouldn’t wear off she’d rather voluntarily knock herself out than listen to Albus Potter’s thoughts for the rest of her life.

_You won’t. She won’t. Dad can sort this out. Who else am I supposed to ask?_

That reminded her of something. _How’s Scorpius? With you, I suppose? Ask him how he liked the Cruciatus Curse._

_Right, she tortured him. We should have been faster. I’m not going to._

She hadn’t expected him to. But this was exciting, for the first time in what seemed like ages she could talk to someone, in a way. And even better, Harry Potter’s son. This was her last chance to inflict even the tiniest bit of pain onto him and his family.

_How’s Azkaban?_

Her smile faltered. He was incredibly stupid, he couldn’t possibly believe she would care about his insults or attempts to ruin this for her. But she would let him try. In the end he would see, it was only coming back to him.

_You know all about that, don’t you?_ Delphi’s smile was back and it felt a bit stiff, considering there hadn’t been much to smile about lately. _How often did you get something to eat because–_

_I don’t care. Okay?_ He cut her off, so that was possible. _I hope she’s starving in there.  
_

Rolling her eyes, she simply closed them, realizing it was easier like this. His voice was clearer. There was anger in there, but also fear, uncertainty. Azkaban was still stuck with him. Understandable, he had been here for a whole week and longer, trapped inside her body, she supposed it was quite traumatizing. He was still a child after all.

_I don’t want this. I can’t do this. I’m gonna be sick. Not here, that would be so embarrassing. They’re already laughing anyway. I’m so glad he’s here._

She stayed silent for a moment listening to his thoughts, becoming more and more panicked. She briefly wondered where they were, they obviously weren’t alone. And she couldn’t only hear his despair, she could even sort of feel it. It made her ball her fists as if she was troubled by this as well, even though she found it more amusing than anything else. She assumed it were part of his emotions coming over alongside his thoughts. Very interesting. She could do well without them.

Except if maybe it weren’t only the bad ones. There wasn’t much to do in this cell, except for sleeping, which she couldn’t, counting the bricks in the wall or contemplating her life choices. But with something like this... She had never heard of that before... except... well, except for her father’s and Harry Potter’s connection due to the Horcruxes. After Lord Voldemort had tried to kill baby Harry and the spell rebounded he had accidentally created another Horcrux in the boy and destroyed it later on in the battle of Hogwarts when he wanted to kill him again. They had had a bond between their emotions and thoughts allowing them to see through each other’s eyes at times. Books said, her father even even had been able to plant false visions in Harry’s head, tricking him. It had gotten weaker the more Horcruxes Harry and his friends had destroyed.

This connection between her and Albus though was a bit different. She never had any intention to create a Horcrux nor did she know the spell or killed someone for it. Although she didn’t remember reading about it under the side effects category of the curse she had used to switch their bodies, it most certainly was the reason for it.

_You’ve got your boyfriend right there, ask him, he’ll be delighted to help you out. Maybe this time he’ll actually manage to._ Scorpius was undoubtedly with him, otherwise he would’ve had a panic attack by now.

_Leave Scorpius out of this. What do you want from me?_

She truly had no idea where that sudden bravery came from. It reminded her a bit of that situation on the Quidditch field. Probably a protection mechanism. _What could I possibly want from you?_

_Why don’t you just stop bothering me then? She is so powerful, she can stop this, can’t she?_

_I’m flattered, Albus, really. But in case you have forgotten, I’m in a prison cell in Azkaban. No wand._

_I haven’t forgotten! It’s where you belong!_ His voice was getting louder, angrier. It made her head hurt a bit more.

_You murdered someone, Delphi! I don’t want you in my head. Craig. That was all my fault.  
_

_Exactly. That was your fault. You should have done what I said. Poor Scorpius had to suffer because of you too. I heard the Cruciatus Curse can drive you mad.  
_

_Stop. Just stop.  
_

Delphi smiled, enjoying this way too much.  _Oh, but this is so entertaining. And I could really use some entertainment._ She could hear her stomach rumble, cast another glance at the two guards but no one of the made any move to get her something to eat any time soon.

“Hey! When do I get something to eat?” She called out to them, one of them turned around and gave her an annoyed look, the other didn’t even stirr. She glared, then sunk back against the wall.

_I will not be your entertainment. You deserve to rot alone in your cell, Delphi._

_Leave me alone! It hurts. Because of her?_

_I may deserve this, but it doesn’t stop me, does it? I’m still bothering you, aren’t I? You haven’t gotten rid of me yet._ She would have loved to see his face in that moment. Surely Albus was sitting somewhere with Scorpius, scared to death over sharing his mind with her. She’d like to imagine his best friend trying to calm him, probably reassuring him over and over that they would find a solution for this, even though he was just as scared as Albus. That’s what friends did. Trying to make each other feel better. She wouldn’t know. She didn’t have much experience with friendship except for when she had been playing Albus.

_I can stop this. I’ll get help. And she’ll get punished. We can end this._

She laughed out loud. _What? I’m already in an almost empty cell, there isn’t much you can still take from me._

“Shh”, one of the guards made, giving her a warning look, one hand on his wand. The other one looked highly suspicious, probably wondering what was so funny. They had no idea. She raised her brows at him, before closing her eyes again.

_I’ll find something. My dad will know what to do._

_You’re ridiculous, Albus. You’re father is useless, he has no idea what this is either and you know it. You’ll only make him feel more guilty._ His father had been incredibly reckless, using that spell. He knew what it would do, he had done that to seriously hurt her, not caring that it was still his sons body. Exactly how she had hoped it would happen.

_She’s right. My dad hates himself for what he did. I can’t tell him. But I can’t keep this to myself..._

_You have no other choice. But go ahead, write to your daddy and see what he does come up with.  
_

_I won’t! Get out of my head!_

A dull feeling of anger came with these words, spreading through her chest and stomach, making her involuntarily clench her hands go fists. She didn’t much like feeling his emotions and wondered if he felt hers too. Hopefully just the bad ones.

Delphi opened her eyes, starting to feel restless cowering here like this with so much going on inside her head. She had to move a bit. With a bit of help of the wall, she slowly staggered to her feet, holding her breath until the dizziness subsided. She felt worse than she thought.

_Stop being angry. It’s annoying._

_Then shut up._

_Do you expect me to just stop thinking?_

She took a few steps along the wall, trailing her hand along the cold stones. Had Albus been in here too? And Harry Potter? She didn’t know how he managed to convince his father. Why Harry had believed him just like this. Delphi let out a sigh as she reached the opposite wall, one of the Aurors turned around to make sure she wasn’t trying anything. She ignored him, she knew she didn’t have a chance against them.

If she only had a wand... Taking a step closer to them, she fiercely held his gaze.

“Do I still get something to eat or do you want me to starve?”, she asked again, her voice echoing off the stone walls, sounding much more tired than she would have liked it to.nThe guard didn’t move a muscle. She clenched her teeth in annoyance, raising her voice.

“Hey, I asked a question. Can’t you just answer it?”

Not a word. The man got out his wand, gestured to the mattress in the corner with it. She glared at him, reluctantly returning to it and sinking down again.  Apparently she wasn’t even allowed to walk. They didn’t even talk to her when she asked questions. At her first day here she had asked for someone to maybe take a look at her shoulder, not really expecting a yes. But she hadn’t gotten an answer at all. She was Voldemort’s daughter, they wouldn’t have pity. They were probably hating her more than anyone else in here.

_She’s hurt. Because I got splinched._

_Did you? Get splinched?_

_We have to tell someone. My dad or McGonagall. This is driving me crazy._

Was he just going to ignore her for now? It wasn’t working like she hoped if would. And this connection was making her head hurt and she could feel the exhaustion and tiredness creeping into her bones. Although she knew she couldn’t possibly fall asleep, she lied back down, closing her eyes. Albus’ thoughts were still coming, not directed at her but at himself, Delphi tried shutting them out.

_What if he notices something is wrong? She’ll tell my dad. I don’t want to be alone._

She wished he’d be quiet. Just for now. And tomorrow she would take care of this, find out what this even was. It had gotten dark outside, cloudy, perhaps it had started raining again. She already dreaded the winter, she would freeze to death in here if they wouldn’t give her any more clothes or blankets. It was a frightening thought. She pulled the blanket over her shoulders and rolled tightly together to save as much warmth as possible. Hopefully it would all be better when she woke up again.

Delphi tried blocking out the pieces of words and calming down. It was hard and she had started shivering again, but after what felt like an eternity, the exhaustion finally won and she fell asleep.

 

**

_”Delphini! Where are you, you stupid little girl?”_

_Delphi tightly hugged her knees, hiding behind her big, dark cupboard, being as quiet as possible. She didn’t want her to find her. She would only get punished. That was what happened last time. What had she done wrong this time? This morning she had watched her mother putting a bar of chocolate in the highest cabinet in the kitchen and she had been hungry. The last thing she had eaten had been two days ago, so she had tried to steal a little piece without her mother noticing. But apparently she did notice and was now searching for her._

_She was trembling with fear, trying to muffle the sobs coming over her lips with her hands. She couldn’t find her... She would hurt her again. She had just wanted to eat something._

_“There you are, you little brat.”_

_The cupboard was being magically moved and she hid her face in her hands, because maybe if she just wouldn’t look, she wouldn’t be seen. But a second later a strong hand forcefully grabbed her upper arm, painfully pulling her onto her feet._

_“What are you doing there? Why are you hiding?”_

_Delphi knew she knew exactly why she was hiding, she just wanted her to admit it, it always was like this. She lowered her head, trying to free herself out of her hard grip._

_“I... I just...”_

_“Just? You stole from me again, didn’t you? You useless child! Tell me what you did!” Her voice was shrill in her ears, her arm slowly going numb from the grip. The tears were openly dripping down her cheeks, onto the dark embroidered carpet._

_“I... I... took a piece... o-of chocolate...”, she whispered, not able to look up into her furious eyes._

_“I didn’t catch that. Speak up, Delphini, you know I don’t like it when you’re mumbling.”_

_She winced when her mother grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking up her head, to look into her face. It hurt and she closed her eyes, trying to get the words over her lips. “Yes?”_

_“I... I... stole some of your chocolate...”_

_“You did. You know what that means, don’t you?”_

_Delphini’s eyes widened and she weakly shook her head. “P-p-please don’t, mother–“_

_“I am not your mother.” A second later a sharp pain shot through her cheek and she felt a bruise starting to form, her mother roughly pushed her to the ground. “That’s what you deserve, you filthy halfblood! Never steal from me again or you won’t get anything to eat for a week!”_

_With that she left the room, slamming the door. Delphini curled up in a ball on the floor, sobbing her heart out. In the distance she could hear her mothers awful bird cry. “It’s your fault its crying”, she had once said. “It knows you’re going to come to a sticky end.”_

_She wiped at her eyes, glancing up at the door her mother had left through. It was open again and standing in the doorway was a boy she had never seen before, staring at her with an expression of utter shock. Five year old Delphini didn’t know him but adult Delphi did and she felt like the blood froze in her veins._

“Albus...”, she breathed out and her eyes snapped open. She let out a gasp and scrambled up into a sitting position, running her hands through her long hair, before burying her face them. She was sweating and her heart was racing in her chest. A nightmare. Just a nightmare.

It had been so long since she had last thought of her childhood, she had pushed these horrible memories into the furthest back of her head and tried forgetting about them. Euphemia Rowle had only taken her in for the money, she hadn’t treated her well, she hadn’t loved her or raised her like she was her own daughter. Her childhood had consisted of tears, violence and loneliness. Until she ran away to take care of herself, not enduring her torture anymore. She didn’t know how old she had been when she left, but it had only been a couple of years later when her stepfather, Rodolphus Lestrange, had found her and told her the truth about her parentage.

She had forgotten all about the woman who raised her and took her in when she had been just a baby. And to suddenly see her again...

But she could imagine why she had had that dream. Being trapped inside, going to bed with an aching stomach, being alone and helpless, it was all repeating itself. And having that strange connection to Albus surely had broken in that wall in her mind behind where she had kept hidden all these horrible memories.

Albus. He had seen everything. He had been there, in that dream, that memory. She scrambled up, tightly clutching the blanket, trying to listen for his thoughts. Her heart was still hammering in her ears. She had never wanted anyone to see this, especially not him...

Listening closely, she detected a strand of his thoughts in between her confusing ones. _What was that? That was horrible. That was her, wasn't it? Why did I see that?_

Oh no. Apparently this connection wasn't only concerning their thoughts but dreams as well. Her stomach felt as if it turned upside down. If he had seen all this... He couldn't possibly be scared of her anymore.

"Shh", one of the guards outside made and her eyes snapped over to them. They were different ones, they had changed when she had been asleep. For a second she wondered what they were even shushing her for, then she noticed her breath going fast and panicked. Turning her head away from them, she closed her eyes, tried to somehow calm down.

She had to ask him, she had to convince Albus that hadn't been what it looked like. She wasn't scared by that, of a dream. Not anymore. But even saying that over and over again in her head, didn't help. All of the sudden she felt almost as vulnerable as the little girl in her dream.

_A nightmare? I don't want to wake Scorpius. Maybe just a coincidence._

But it wasn't. That her been her life for at least fourteen years... She didn't know why that specific moment came back to her but it didn't matter, it wasn't like others were much better. And it brought back all these thoughts, all the memories... How she tried running away with nine or ten years but was caught by her mother and locked into her cellar for a week, how she had forced her to cook and clean up, even though as a witch she had been perfectly capable of doing that on her own, or that she never let her go outside. And this moment just now. She had spend so many years waiting, hoping, for someone to save her from that, just wishing for _love_...

She had never wanted to feel all that again...

_Delphi?_ , came suddenly Albus voice almost making her jump. He sounded, as far as it was possible just over thoughts, confused. And as if this was costing him a great deal of bravery. Delphi tried ignoring him, she couldn't talk to him, not now.

_Was that you? I know that was her, who else could it have been? Even though she had dark hair. But as a child that must have been different. Lily had almost blond hair when she had been born. You're not born with silver hair, do-_

_No, you're not._ She cut off his seemingly endless train of thoughts, almost automatically reaching up to touch a strand. Albus seemed too surprised to think for a moment, so she remembered his question. There wasn't really a point in lying, was there?

_And yes, that was me. Or – a memory of my childhood_. Then she recalled her plans. She could't appear weak to him. _Don't pretend to be shocked, Albus, I told you she never liked me. That wasn't a lie for once._

_But that's so blurry. Was that in the Owlery...?_

Delphi suppressed a sigh, simply wishing for him to stop thinking. She curled back together on the mattress, burying her head in her arms, her throat feeling unusually tight. Her shoulder was stinging painfully, but she ignored it for now.

_Forget it._

_How can I? That was horrible._ These thoughts weren't meant for her, but she heard them anyways. How many of her thoughts did he get? What if he already knew what she was planning to do?

_She didn't like you. You said that. But I didn’t know she treated you like that..._

_What does it matter?_ As if he actually was bothered by that.  _That’s how it’s handled in pure blood families.Especially with children that are not your own._ Although if Euphemia Rowle had known back then whose child she really was, maybe she would have treated her differently. She supposed, she would never know.

_You deserve it. You're a murderer! She deserved every bit of that. But Scorpius would probably say she wouldn't have become a murderer if that hadn't happened. I won't tell him._

_Stop._ This wasn't something she could use to her advantage, this was straight up torture for both of them. _This is none of your business, Albus! Forget it and stop talking to me!_

She felt a sudden anger flaring through her body and this time it was entirely her own. He had wanted her to get out of his head, hadn’t he? Then he shouldn’t keep asking about things that had nothing to do with him. She could do very well without his comments on everything. And without his thoughts about himself and his father and his stupid best friend...

Pulling up her blanket as high as possible, she tried remembering all the things she had taught herself about Occlumency. Anything that would work to block him out as much as possible. But Albus’ confused thoughts were still coming, so this wasn’t something she could stop with this magic, she tiredly noticed. Maybe it wouldn’t stop at all, perhaps there was some sort of spell to stop it. She didn’t know and she probably wouldn’t find out soon.

But the worst part wasn’t hearing voices or sharing her emotions with Albus Potter, the worst thing about this was that now she was back in captivity, alone and defenseless and it almost felt like nothing had ever changed. Facing away from the Aurors in front of her cell, she tightly shut her eyes, waiting until the constant voice in her head slowly faded away and only then allowed the tears to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :)  
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
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	4. Albus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus has to deal with Delphi's voice in his head and his growing feelings for Scorpius.

“Albus... hey...”

Albus numbly felt someone nudging his shoulder and his eyes snapped open again. His heart missed a beat and he quickly glanced over at Slughorn to see if he had noticed anything. He hadn’t gotten any sleep last night and was now feeling so tired he apparently had dozed off in the middle of Potions class. 

His mind simply hadn’t found any rest. First this horrific thing with hearing Delphi’s thoughts, then they suddenly had some sort of communication, plus this horrible nightmare. Apparently he had briefly fallen asleep and suddenly found himself in an old dark house he had never seen before. There had been a little girl with long dark hair and brown eyes, hiding behind a closet, who he quickly had identified as young Delphi. And what happened after that...

“You don’t look good, Albus...”, Scorpius face came into vision, he leaned closer wearing a worried expression. “What’s wrong? Do you... you know...”, he lowered his voice, “hear her again?”

Thank Dumbledore, Scorpius had been there with him yesterday. Otherwise he probably would have fainted right on the corridor. His friend had gotten quite good at calming people. Well, him. At first he had believed he had gone totally crazy and was hallucinating, that Delphi had somehow corrupted his brain but Scorpius had said it was probably some sort of remaining damage from this curse. It would pass. It had helped a bit, knowing it wouldn’t last. 

Albus quickly shook his head. She had been quiet since a while, not even pieces of words coming through she was probably sleeping or maybe she had found a way to shut him out. Maybe it was over already.

“I’m just tired...” 

“You didn’t sleep much, did you? Me neither...” Scorpius shrugged, placing his hand on top of his, by accident or on purpose Albus couldn’t say. He shook his head, shuffling a bit closer.

“Because of her, huh? 

He nodded. It had taken so long for her thoughts to finally stop, he had tried everything he could to block them out, which had been hardly possible. 

“It’s... so scary...”, he admitted, glancing at Scorpius’ hand still touching his. It send a pleasantly warm feeling through his body. He hadn’t told Scorpius anything about the nightmare, if this was only temporary anyway he didn’t need to know. He was worrying enough, he hadn’t left him alone for even a minute yesterday. Not that he wasn’t thankful for that, but he didn’t want anyone to worry about him. 

“We can still tell someone”, Scorpius said as if he had read his thoughts. Albus was about to shake his head, when his friend quickly added: “It doesn’t have to be your dad. We could speak to McGonagall. Or your brother.”

Albus glanced at him for a moment, considering. McGonagall would inform his father immediately, James would too, probably, it didn’t make a difference.

“They would tell my parents. It’s the same thing.”

This was probably over soon anyway.

He could deal with this alone in the meantime.

Scorpius pulled his chair a bit closer, lowering his voice even more so Slughorn wouldn’t notice anything.

“Then what about my dad? Mh? We can ask him to not tell your parents.”

Albus thought about it for a second. Telling Draco Malfoy? Was that a good idea? He couldn’t imagine him not running to his father telling him about his sons (how Scorpius would say) _psychic connection to Voldemort’s daughter_. Especially with what his family had went through in the war. He knew how dangerous dark magic was.

“He would still tell them, wouldn’t he?”

“I don’t know...” Scorpius shrugged, resting his chin on his hand. “Probably. He likes you.” 

“He likes me?”, Albus repeated, that was new to him. He had never really thought about Draco’s opinion of him, but he supposed that was good. He wouldn’t want Scorpius’ father to hate him.

His friend nodded, giving him a sly smile. “Yup. He said he’s glad I have found such a good friend like you.”

“He said that?” Albus was surprised by that. For some reason he found it difficult to imagine Draco Malfoy thinking that about him. But it felt good to know that.

“Yeah. And he’s right.” Scorpius added. “You’re amazing.”

Albus smiled weakly at that, the feeling of Scorpius’ hand suddenly very prominent. His friend returned his smile brightly, scratching the back of his head, his cheeks slightly pink. 

“You’re very likable”, he pointed out, Albus’ smile grew.

“You too.” He softly nudged his arm, turning over his hand and let his fingers slip through Scorpius’. “Very much.”

_Disgusting._

Albus drew in a sharp breath, tightly squeezing his friends hand. Scorpius’ eyes snapped up to meet his and he immediately seemed to realize, because his mouth dropped open slightly. 

“Albus, is she–“

“Shh”, someone from the table next to them made and Scorpius shut up, squeezing his hand back. Albus swallowed, closing his eyes. It was easier like this. 

_I thought you were gone._

_Don’t get your hopes up, Albus.  
_

_Where were you then?_ , he asked back, concentrating hard to not let any other thoughts than what he wanted come through. And he would have thought she had been at least slightly intimidated by this connection especially after the nightmare. But it didn’t seem like it. He supposed she simply had nothing to loose. 

_Sleeping. It’s quite exhausting to have you in my head all the time. Drives you a bit crazy, doesn’t it?_

Albus clenched his jaw. He knew what she planned on doing; using this connection to mock him and torture him as long as possible. But he wasn't going to let her.  _Bold of you to say, considering you’ve already been crazy before._

_Idiot. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.  
_

Albus felt Scorpius’ fingers tightly holding his, he was very quietly mumbling his name. He knew what was going on. 

_Albus, have you told Scorpius about your feelings yet? Do you think he’s not returning them? You’re not that blind, are you?_

He pressed his lips together, trying to somehow control his thoughts. He knew she could hear them as much as he could hear hers. 

_That’s none of your business.  
_

_You didn’t seem to care my about_ my _privacy when you saw into my dream last night._

Albus shuddered, distantly feeling Scorpius put his other hand on his arm, gently stroking. He was well aware he was still in the middle of a Potions lesson and that Slughorn could notice him not paying attention any second. 

_I had no control over that and you know it!_  If he could he would have stopped this connection the second it had started. He hadn’t wanted to see this, plus it was hurting his head every time some of her thoughts came through. 

_He’s falling for it.  
_

Albus shook his head, he wouldn’t give in to that. She was playing one of her stupid games again. He just needed to wait this out and ignore her as best as possible.  _I’m not. You can’t harm me. So you can give up while you’re ahead._

_Where does this sudden courage come from, Albus? I remember you crying like a baby in your father’s arms a week ago._

Albus bit his lip, the memory flashing before his eyes. He doubted he would ever forget it. He didn’t blame his father, not really. He knew why he had done that and he probably would have done the same. 

Albus clenched his teeth.  _Well, I wasn’t the one “crying like a baby” last night.  
_

He felt a sudden and very real feeling of anger shooting through his veins making him ball his fists. It felt like it wasn’t even his own, he wasn’t that angry, it felt like it was... hers? Her anger reaching through to him? He didn’t know if that was possible but it felt like it. 

_You don’t know what you’re talking about, Albus. You have no idea. You’re so pathetic._

_Shut up. You’re the pathetic one. You’re in Azkaban for the rest of your life, trying to bother me, because that’s the only thing you can do and soon you won’t even have that and then you’re all alone, forever! And you deserve it!_

_Oh, do I? I’ll make sure he’ll regret that. How can you be sure this is going to end, Albus? I’d rather die than hear his stupid thoughts for all my life._

_You can’t lie-_

“Mr Potter! Maybe you could tell us.”

Albus jumped in his seat, head shooting up. Slughorn was looking at him. He had absolutely no clue what he just said. Scorpius was still holding onto his arm.

“Excuse me...?”, he got out in barely a whisper. A few students snickered and turned around to look at him. He felt his cheeks heating up, cursing himself for getting so distracted.

“My question was what the last ingredient is that you need for a Sleeping Draught. Besides the standard ingredients we have lavender and valerian sprigs. What else? It’s very important.”

Albus swallowed. He felt like he couldn’t think. He knew the answer, he had read about that, but his mind felt weirdly fuzzy. Except for that part that was talking to Delphi. Slughorn was looking at him expectantly, Scorpius was offering him an apologetic smile that said: _it’s okay._ The rest of the class was waiting for him to stutter something out.

“I...”

_Flobberworm Mucus._

“Flobberworm Mucus”, he got out without thinking about it and Slughorn’s face lit up. 

“Correct, Mr Potter. Very well. Ten points to Slytherin.”

The students that were laughing at him were now nodding impressed, even Scorpius looked surprised. He swallowed, lowering his head again, failing to feel joy about this. Why had he just listened to her? 

_No need to thank me, Albus. You owe me one._

_Shut up. Leave me alone._ He didn’t even trust her, why had he done that? Albus buried his face in his hands, swallowing down the lump in his throat. He hadn’t meant to...

_That’s not very grateful, Albus. Was it correct?_

Yes. It was. Couldn’t she just stop? His head started to throb with pain again, wasn't it hurting her too?

_No, it's not,_ she said and Albus bit down on his lip, reaching for Scorpius' hand under the table. He hoped she was lying. His friend's smile froze and he briefly glanced at Slughorn, who was writing on the blackboard, before pulling his chair closer, his eyes growing concerned.

"Everything okay?", he whispered, Albus weakly nodded. He didn't want her to hear her thoughts, it was simply wrong. And it made him even more vulnerable and he was so done with Delphi being able to hurt him.

Scorpius beside him raised his hand and Albus tried to concentrate back on him, without thinking too much. But his thoughts seemed to slip out of his control the more he tried to hold them back. What if anyone noticed anything? The gossiping would get even worse. And his father would be informed and worry even more. About nothing, probably, this connection had to fade soon, right? It already was a day...

“... and Albus can come with me.” 

Albus’ eyes snapped over to his friend when he heard his name and to his confusion Scorpius was getting up from his seat, hoisting his bag over his shoulder. Slughorn and the rest of the class was looking at them. 

“Yes, of course. Mr Potter doesn’t look all too well himself...” Their Professor nodded and Albus felt Scorpius softly hitting his shoulder and scrambled up as well, stuffing his books in his bag.

“Sure...” 

Scorpius nodded and stifled a cough that, in his opinion, sounded very weak and he suddenly understood. He was faking to be sick to get him out of here. He had never done that before, Scorpius hated missing lessons more than anything else. 

He hooked his arm through his, pulling him along out of the Potions room. As soon as the door closed begin them, he spun around to him, grabbing his shoulders. 

“You tell me what’s wrong right now. You look like you’ve swallowed a whole box of vomit flavored _Bertie Botts Bean’s.“_

Albus stared at him, swallowing, Scorpius’ face was serious, his fingers dug into his shoulders. 

“I... she’s...”

_What are you doing? Isn’t he in class?_

“Talking to me. Again. She knows what I’m thinking. Everything.” He gasped silently when Scorpius pulled him into a sudden embrace. He immediately melted into his hug though, closing his eyes. He felt awful. His thoughts were spinning in circles and his head was feeling like it was going to explode soon and her thoughts never stopped. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in his bed, pull the blanket over his head and sleep. Because when he was asleep at least he wasn’t feeling or thinking anything. As long as there were no nightmares...

“Has it gotten any better?”, Scorpius asked, rubbing his back, Albus squeezed closer, his presence being the only thing that kept him from breaking down right now. This couldn’t go on for forever. It had to stop soon. Scorpius had said it would stop soon. 

“No... not really. It hurts...”

“It hurts?” Scorpius broke the hug, his hands remaining in his shoulders. “Much?”

“No- yeah... Whenever she says something.”

He could hear it even now, not only the thoughts she wanted him to hear but all kinds of them. He desperately tried to ignore it for the moment.

“Why didn’t you say so?” Scorpius touched his shoulder, stepping a bit closer to make more room for a few passing Gryffindors. 

“I... I don’t know...” Albus tiredly glanced up at him, shrugging his shoulders. The truth was he didn’t want Scorpius to always look at him with this slightly scared look in his eyes, as if he feared he was gonna break down any second. 

_Tell Scorpius you’re too weak to do this alone. You need daddy’s help._

He closed his eyes, softly shaking his head. He wouldn’t pull his father into this. Not again. He trusted Delphi to have some kind of plan b to get her revenge on his father even from the inside of a cell in Azkaban. 

_I don’t._ He swallowed, a thought coming to his mind.  _You’re using me. Do you_ want _me to tell him?_

_What would he say?  Would he be coming straight to school to rescue him? Has Harry Potter got the solution to everything? You don’t actually think you can solve this alone, do you?_

Albus bit his lip, clenching his fists. He could feel anger flooding his veins, not sure if it was his own or hers or maybe both. 

_Stop. Just stop. You should be grateful I’m not telling my dad because you can be certain he would make your punishment even harder._

_I doubt that’s possible._ She sounded amused. 

_You’ll see. You’ll get–_

“Albus...”, Scorpius’ whisper pulled him out of his thoughts, he blinked, focusing him again. Well, he tried focusing him, his sight was slightly blurry and his head started to hurt badly. 

“Hm...?” 

“You’re bleeding...” He gestured at his face and Albus reached up to touch his nose, feeling warm blood on his fingers. What...? 

“You’re really pale...” He felt Scorpius grab his shoulders, the tone of worry in his voice increasing.

“Let’s get you to Madam Pomfrey...”

Albus almost immediately shook his head, his splitting headache only increasing. “No... teacher, please... It’s just a nosebleed...”

_You too?_

“Albus, you can’t do this alone! We can’t.” 

“Of course we can.” He dabbed at his nose with his sleeve, pushing himself away from the wall. It really wasn’t that bad, he could deal with a nose bleed. 

“It’s gonna be gone soon, I’m sure. Really. Let’s go...”

“Albus–“

Scorpius grabbed his upper arm, spinning him around. For the first time his friend seemed almost angry at him. It made him somewhat speechless.

“This is stupid! You’re hurting, I won’t let her do that to you anymore! We have to tell someone, you don’t want to be stuck with her in your head forever, do you?”

Albus scoffed, avoiding his eyes, wiping his nose again. “No! Of course not!” He didn’t actually believe that, did he?

“You know that. I just don’t want anyone to know, okay?”

“But this is serious! You’re suffering, aren’t you?” His fingers dug into his arm, Albus lowered his eyes, shrugging his shoulders. Yes, he was. And that was exactly why he didn’t want to tell anyone else. It was bad enough like this. 

“Yes, you are. And is she?”

He softly shook his head, his throat suddenly feeling tight. He wondered why she wasn’t saying anything right now. She was probably on the edge of her non-existent seat, hanging onto their every words. He felt a bit sick at that thought.

“No... Look.” He grabbed his hand, pulling him into a niche where a narrow staircase lead down to the first floor. Albus sat down on one of the top stairs, Scorpius settled down next to him.

“This connection with you is probably the best thing that could have happened to her...”, he began quietly, leaning closer to him. Albus stared at the ground. 

“She is going to be in Azkaban for the rest of her life and now she can at least torment you a little bit longer... You don’t want to give her that, do you?”

Albus shook his head again, closing his eyes against the dull throbbing pain in his head. Scorpius was right, he knew that. Still... 

“I don't want my dad to know. She wants me to tell him– I can’t tell him if that’s what she wants, can I?”

He opened his eyes again, glancing at his friend confused. Scorpius looked thoughtful for a moment, then shook his head with a sigh. 

“No... I don’t know.”

Albus made a vague hand gesture that said see? and buried his face in his hands. How was he supposed to know what to do with the constant knowledge that Delphi possibly knew everything he was thinking? The only way to end this was to get help if they didn’t find out by themselves and if they couldn’t do that... He closed his eyes, clenching his hands to fists, angry at himself. This was all his fault. 

He felt Scorpius’ hand on his shoulder, softly stroking it, it was hardly a comfort. 

“What do you think would make her stop talking to you?”, he then asked quietly and Albus took a deep breath, turning to him again. 

“I don’t know... Having her soul sucked out by a Dementor?”, he answered half serious, half joking even though he wasn’t feeling like it at all. Scorpius smiled weakly. 

“Yeah, that would probably do it. Although I doubt that’s an option.”

Albus shrugged, wishing they had just done that in the first place. Or maybe not, considering _he_ had been Delphi when she had been first sent to Azkaban. He sighed deeply, trying to pull himself together.

“Whatever. We’ve gotta go if we don’t want to miss Transfiguration.”

Scorpius looked at him like he wasn’t sure if he would make it through another lesson but nodded slowly at Albus’ determined expression. He wasn’t so sure himself but McGonagall certainly would notice something was wrong if he faked being sick again. 

“Thank you, by the way...”, he mumbled, nudging Scorpius’ shoulder. “For getting me out of there...”

Scorpius smiled a bit, then nodded. “Sure.”

His friend got up, putting out his hand for him. Albus regarded it for a moment before taking it.

_What a tragedy. You’re pathetic, Albus._

He ignored it for once, firmly keeping hold of Scorpius’ hand. 

* * *

 

Delphi tried calling out to him again multiple times during Transfiguration and he did his best to ignore it, concentrating on the lesson. It was difficult and his head seemed to hurt worse the more he tried to push her away, but then it were only twenty more minutes, ten minutes and the lesson was over. He couldn’t help but feel relieved that the day was finally over and he no longer had to pretend he was fine. 

They left the classroom together and Scorpius volunteered to bring him some dinner, when he insisted on going straight to the Slytherin common room. 

They separated on the Grand Staircase, Scorpius heading for the Great Hall, Albus down to the Dungeons.

The common room was nicely empty, since all students were eating dinner but he immediately went down the stairs to their bedroom, the thought of lying down in his bed and closing his eyes very inviting. Sleeping without having a constant annoying voice in his head, a dreamless night, just feeling nothing for a while. 

He lied down in his bed without even changing out of his robes, closing his eyes. The pain in his head was still there, a bit better than before but it had gotten less. Or he had gotten used to it.

Delphi was quiet again, perhaps she was asleep. He really didn’t want to share another nightmare with her but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Maybe it would weaken her. He doubted he could stay awake for much longer anyway. 

It didn’t take another minute and he drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up again, very sleepily, he noticed the mattress beside him had sunk slightly and that there was a warm body snuggled in next to him. He frowned softly, slowly turning around to Scorpius’ recumbent figure next to him. There was a plate with a cheese sandwich standing on his nightstand, Albus smiled tiredly at the sight. He had actually brought him something... 

He glanced at his friend, lying down in his pillow again. Scorpius was fast asleep, even having changed into his pajamas, his chest calmly falling and sinking. Albus’ eyes wandered back up at his face, carefully regarding it. He was quite close, closer than normally. 

He felt a bit weird, staring like this, but as long as he didn’t notice it should be fine, right? He couldn’t help but glance down at his lips and as he did so his heart skipped a beat. This wasn’t the first time he thought about just _kissing_ him, but this was the first time he actually thought about doing it. It wouldn’t be fair, of course not, he was asleep and he didn’t want it to be that way. But he wanted to be close to him, closer than now. 

Albus carefully pushed closer to him, adjusting his head on the pillow, eyes still on his sleepy face. He looked cute, the tiniest hint of a smile on his lips that were opened slightly, one arm resting on the blanket, the other one under his head. He was so blind, how couldn’t he have noticed how _beautiful_ Scorpius was before? He had always found his quirky personality wonderful, he never failed to cheer him up, somehow (even if it was stuttering) always finding the right words. And the way he talked about books as if they were the most important thing in his life, his eyes shining with admiration speaking about Bathilda Bagshot or another one of his favourite authors. How he averted his eyes and his hands started playing with each other when he got nervous or had to answer a question in class. Their endless long talks until late into the night, always finding something new to discuss, their hugs, even if they were awkward, but they were working on that.

Albus smiled softly, reaching out to trace his finger along Scorpius arm, very lightly, to not wake him up. 

But he was so pretty on the outside as well. His pale blonde hair, these long eyelashes, his cute nose and these awfully inviting lips...

Albus felt his cheeks getting hot the longer he watched him. These thoughts were what James would probably call inappropriate, but it was all new to him. He never thought that about someone before, not like _this_ at least. 

He snuggled even closer, arm wrapping around Scorpius’ torso. He wouldn’t mind, would he? He crawled into his bed in the first place... 

He leaned his head against his chest, hearing his even heart beat, it was calming him somewhat. Also he smelled nice, a pleasant mixture something fresh and something sweet. It reminded him of old times, the two of them staying up at night, eating sweets and doing homework together until they fell asleep on their books.

He closed his eyes again. Maybe they could go back there. When this was all over, Albus made a little promise to himself, he would try to make the first step. As soon as his mind belonged to only himself again, he’d kiss him. And that was definitely something to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyy, thanks for reading, I hope you liked this chapter and please let me know what you think in a comment! <3
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [YourDearOldFriend's Tumblr](https://yourdearoldfriend.tumblr.com/)


	5. Delphi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delphi learns the disadvantages of being connected to Albus Potter.

It was an ice cold breeze coming in through the bars that woke Delphi from her sleep. She pulled up the blanket a little bit, shutting her eyes again and tightly rolling her body together. It was freezing outside especially in this hellhole of a prison in the middle of the sea. Rolling onto the side she winced slightly at the sensation of pain as she put too much pressure on the injury on her shoulder. It still hadn’t gotten better, which wasn’t surprising, considering no one had taken care of it. The pain felt like a thousand of tiny needles pricking into her skin and she carefully turned over to the other side again, trying not to touch it anymore. It was more annoying than anything but she didn’t need to move much in here anyway.

The sun was just about to rise, the first sunbeams already shone into her cell. They didn’t do anything to warm her though. The blanket she had wrapped around herself neither. At least she had gotten a couple hours of sleep, without any past involving nightmares this time. Sighing softly she sat up, pushing her hair out of her face and suppressing a yawn.

Albus was very quiet, probably asleep as well, it still was quite early. He was more scared than in the beginning, it was like he was slowly getting weaker, trying to block her out more. It didn’t work, it was only making her feel his fear more. The weaker he got, the stronger their connection got, the more she hoped she could somehow regain control of him or at least make him do whatever she wanted. She still didn’t know if that was possible, but there was the possibility. Even if he wasn’t talking to her she was able to hear some of his thoughts. She had the feeling it were more his emotions coming through to her and her thoughts coming through to him, but she would take it that way. His emotions weren’t too bad and she’d rather have him hear her instead of feel what she was feeling. If that made sense.

Albus was quite the emotional person and she was better at closing her mind so she supposed that was the reason for it. She felt his anger yesterday, his despair and his determination to get rid of her without telling anyone. While he apparently had gotten a lot of her thoughts, judging his reactions.

Delphi combed her fingers through her hair, sending the guards in front of her cell a look. Perhaps today would be the day she would get something to eat.

Her stomach felt weirdly queasy, her mouth was dry and she could already feel the effect that the prison had on her after just seven days.

She felt dizzy and lied back down, staring at the dirty ceiling. The boredom had been the worst first, that and her guilty conscience. Then came the hunger and it hadn’t stopped until now. In all honesty she was quite glad about Albus’ mental company. It was entertaining. Even if he was a mess, or maybe exactly because of that. It was fun hearing him slowly despair.

His thoughts were starting again, only pieces of it like yesterday. She closed her eyes, tried listening curiously without allowing him to hear hers. She could tell he was still tired, probably had woken up just now. He wasn’t talking to anyone, she had learned to difference between him thinking and speaking.

_Scorpius... Comfy.... with me..._

So he was thinking about Scorpius. Of course. He was with him presumably. They were probably cuddling.

She grimaced, remembering that time she had been forced to crawl into Scorpius’ bed with him. Now, it seemed, Albus was granted that pleasure. He was certainly more than happy to do it. She (or he) felt warm, content even, apparently Scorpius had that effect on him. It certainly didn’t have it on her but at least it pushed away the gnawing hunger a little bit.

She closed her eyes when another warm shiver went through her body, allowed herself to enjoy this feeling for a moment. The happiness of having someone who cared for you, the comfort that came with being close to someone... and suddenly there was something else. Something new.

She frowned, opening her eyes again. That was not like anything she had ever felt before, not as Albus, not as herself.

_Shit._

Apparently he didn’t like it either. Though it wasn’t exactly unpleasant, it was simply making her feel weirdly... restless?

Slowly she sat up, looking down at herself. Of course there wasn’t anything different to see, not that she had been expecting that.

_Shit, shit, shit._

For a moment she considered just asking him what was wrong, but a second later a strange feeling of pleasure went through her body, making her tightly clasp the blanket. What was he doing? What made him feel like this? Was it Scorpius? Perhaps he had woken up as well and now they were... doing what exactly?

She swallowed, pulling the blanket tighter around her. No, they weren’t talking. Albus’ thoughts were practically spinning in circles, shame mixed with panic, but stronger than all that was this spreading warmth in her lower regions.

It didn’t feel _bad_ , just... strange. She bit her lip, trying to concentrate on his thoughts again. There wasn’t much, merely him thinking swear words all over again, occasionally there was Scorpius’ name, then the question of what to do now? Well, she didn’t know either, she didn’t even understood what was going on. What was making him feel that way, when he was just lying in his bed with his friend and– oh. _Oh no_. Please, she desperately hoped this was not what she thought it was.

A second later she felt a wave of pleasure shaking her body and closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly shut. No, what was he doing? That stupid boy didn’t have his pubescent urges under control and now she had to suffer the consequences too. Well, _suffer_ wasn’t the right word. But these were Albus’ emotions, Albus’ doing and apparently he had completely forgotten about her still being there. And her being very well aware of his feelings.

She briefly considered just screaming at him in her mind, but decided against that, it would probably only scare him but not stop him. Blocking him wasn’t an option, she still hadn’t figured out how and trying Occlumency just made her head hurt. She supposed she just had to... wait it out.

Sinking back onto her mattress, she crossed her arms and legs and tried concentrating on something different. Like finally getting something to eat or getting out of here.

_Scorpius... do that... wake up..._

She tightly shut her eyes, fighting the urge to move, to do something against that growing feeling of arousal, because this feeling of not being in control of her body and her emotions was utterly terrifying. And sharing this particular feeling with Albus wasn’t something she could just brush off like his anger or desperation. This was intense, more intense than anything she had ever felt before and quite the contrary to the pain and loneliness of the last days. Still, it was wrong. Didn’t Albus know she was experiencing the same emotions as him?

She groaned in frustration, turning onto her stomach. Where was Scorpius when he was needed? Couldn’t he just wake up and set an end to this?

Delphi pulled up her knees, hugging them firmly, while trying not to imagine what Albus was doing even though his thoughts were giving her quite the insight. Unfortunately.

_Alone... notice... normal... so embarrassing..._

It was, yes. Incredibly. If only he’d finally be done with it. Stupid teenagers, couldn’t he pull himself together and just forget about it? She took a deep breath, squirming uncomfortably on her thin mattress.

_Out of here... before... wakes up..._

Probably a good idea. She rolled onto her back again, staring up at the ceiling, trying to clear her mind, to feel nothing. It was hard, harder than before, instead of slowly disappearing the feeling only got more intense. Why was this taking so long?

It wasn’t like she knew much about this, in fact her knowledge was practically non-existent, but she was smart, she (sadly) had imagination and furthermore she had been in Albus’ body for a while. It was something she had never thought about in her life. Why? It wasn’t important, it wasn’t something she needed or wanted. She had never been interested nor would she ever be, not that it mattered anyway, she was imprisoned for the rest of her life. That meant it was at least a one time experience. Hopefully.

She closed her eyes, shivering slightly and this time not because of the cold. It was getting worse (better?), she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

_Showers. Alone. Now._

Disgusting. Please just let it be, Albus. Get yourself together. But he didn’t hear it. Why did he suddenly not hear her?

A moment later a strong feeling of warmth shot through her lower stomach, burning and making her breath stop in her throat. She clenched her jaw, tightly pressing her lips together, curling together in a ball. That was absolutely terrible.

When she had found out about this connection between them she never would have thought something like this would happen. She had thought this was her chance to resume control, to somehow pull the strings even out of prison, her last chance to take revenge on Harry Potter and his family. But it wasn’t working how she would like it too. Not at all. She should have known, being connected to Harry Potter’s son couldn’t be good in any way.

A soft sigh escaped her lips, she pressed her hands on her mouth. This was below herself, she wouldn’t– he couldn’t do that. He had to stop before–

She shut her eyes, concentrating on the boy, reluctantly opening her mind and reaching through to him.

_Albus. Albus, stop. Immediately._

A wave of utter shock went through her, along with a horrible feeling of shame, so strong she felt her own cheeks getting hot.

_Delphi? Shit... forgot..._

_Listen, you have to stop this... You know I’m feeling what you’re feeling, right?_

There was a brief silence, she held her breath, hoping. Albus’ thoughts were even more confused, he was awfully embarassed, apparently not capable to properly answer her.

_Merlin, Albus, seriously? You’re so pathetic..._

_Shut up. Stay out of my mind, just leave me alone for one minute, please!_

He sounded quite desperate, perhaps she would have found that funny if she wouldn’t be feeling completely violated right now.

_I can’t, Albus! We’re connected, in case you didn’t notice! Pull yourself together, I don’t want to be there when you’re– you know what!_

Albus was quiet again and she was slowly getting angry at him. How could he simply forget about this? How could he be so careless?

_Get it? Stop it._

Slowly sitting up again, she fixed her dress, trying to identify her (or Albus’) feelings for a moment. It was a wild mess, panic mixed with embarrassment, underneath that still the dull, satisfying feeling of pleasure. She tried ignoring it. She didn’t want to feel it. Even though it was terrifyingly good. In contrast to all the pain and ache of the past days, this was more than pleasant. But it weren’t her feelings, not really. It were Albus’, swapping over to her and he was enjoying himself, not her. It wasn’t right.

Yes, she had done a lot of things that maybe weren’t right and constantly harassing him through their minds probably wasn’t exactly nice either, but she had to draw the line somewhere. And this was it.

_Albus?_

_Yes, I get it. Stop mentioning it._

_How can I? You’re–_

_You’re ruining my life! Get out of my head, please!_

_For the last time, Albus! This is not me, I’m not controlling it! I want this to end as much as you!_

That wasn’t completely true, up until now she had found his company quite amusing, a solution for her boredom and maybe a way to escape this prison but now she had never felt more invaded in her privacy. She was as much capable of controlling this as Albus was.

_Do you? You seemed to enjoy annoying me yesterday. This is all just a game to you, isn’t it?_

_No, its not. Maybe it was until you started sharing your weird desires with me._

Delphi rolled her eyes, feeling frustration overcoming her. And that was only putting it mildly.

_You can always tell your father. Maybe he knows how to end this._

There was a short silence, in which Delphi watched the two guards in front of the cell exchange with two new ones, apparently their shift had ended. They didn’t even spare her one glance.

_You know I won’t do that. I don’t want– why do you even want me to tell him?_

_I don’t exactly fancy you transmitting your perverse feelings over to me, thank you very much. I thought this could be of some kind of help, turns out it isn’t. So I’d rather want it to be over._

She still believed there had to be some kind of advantage for her, something she could use to escape or at least inflict permanent damage on Harry Potter and his family, but of course she wouldn’t tell Albus that. If she only knew what and how it was done...

_If you wouldn’t have cast that stupid spell in the first place, this wouldn’t even have happened._

_And just let them deliver me straight to Azkaban? No way, Albus. I only had that one chance. You would’ve taken it too._

_I wouldn’t! Because I never would have been in that position! What you were trying to do was horrible! You’re a murderer, Delphi!_

She suppressed a sigh, closing her eyes, thinking back. This conversation was leading nowhere, she had to set an end to this.

_If I remember correctly you wanted your father to kill me back in that church._

_I wouldn’t have done it._ He sounded bitter. She scoffed.

You looked pretty determined to me. Would have saved us this.

_I’m not like you. I’d never kill someone._

_Sure about that? If I’d torture Scorpius again, you’d do everything. We’re more alike than you think._

_You won’t be able to go near him ever again. And we’re not alike. Not at all._

She smiled, softly shaking her head. He was so easily to upset.

_You can talk to snakes now. So can I. And your spells have gotten stronger, haven’t they? We both have had families that didn’t want us. We both wanted to prove ourselves to our fathers. I know you, Albus, how else could I have been so good at pretending to be you?_

He was quiet again. Perhaps he was panicking again, believing that he and Voldemort’s daughter had more in common than he liked. Perhaps he was blaming his father again, for not noticing it earlier or of his time in Azkaban. In all honesty she had been wondering why he hadn’t noticed his son was not who he pretended to be too. Albus undoubtedly had problems with his father but considering he was an Auror and Harry Potter... She supposed love had blinded him.

_“Are you sure you’re okay, Albus?”_

_Delphi bit her lip, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. They both had asked her that question at least ten times in the last hour._

_“Do you want another cup of hot chocolate, dear?”_

_She shook her head, fingers playing with the rim of the blanket that was covering her. Harry Potter and his wife were sitting left and right of her, making an effort to console their traumatized son. This morning they had returned from time, back to the present and returned to their home, after they had parted from the Malfoys. Scorpius hadn’t even wanted to let his best friend go, hugging her so tightly she feared to have broken a bone. He always had been terribly annoying, but Albus best friend so she had hugged him back. Their parents had together with Hogwarts’ Headmistress decided to grant Albus and Scorpius a week at home, to digest everything that happened. That meant pretending to be Albus Potter, scarred for life (well, for now) and enduring his parents treating her like a baby._

_“I’m fine, really. Just tired...”_

_Albus’ parents exchanged a glance, then his mother got up, patting her knee._

_“I’m gonna make your bed ready, so you can sleep a while. Be right back.” She gave Harry a look, who lowered his eyes. It took all of her self control to not grab his wand that was lying on the sofa table and fire the killing curse at Harry Potter’s head. She mentally prepared for the awkward talk they were about to have instead._

_As soon as Albus’ mother had left the room, he scooted a bit closer, awfully slowly putting his arm around her._

_“Is there... anything you want to talk about?”_

_She shrugged softly, in the way Albus would do, crossing her arms._

_“I don’t... know. No...”_

_Harry sighed softly, rubbing her back. She clenched her jaw to not flinch back from his gentle touch. She doubted Albus would confide in him, their relationship was difficult. He didn’t think his father would understand him._

_“Okay... But you can always talk to me. About anything. I know we– I know it always has been a bit difficult between us, but I want you to know that I am... so sorry you had to go through this...”_

_His voice got more quiet, breaking at the end, he took a deep shuddering breath. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, hesitantly eying him from the side. He actually looked close to tears, driving his hand over his face. She desperately wished he wouldn’t start crying, not because she wouldn’t like to see that happening but it would be awkward as hell for Albus. And she doubted he’d know what to do._

_“It’s not your fault. Dad.” She mumbled, carefully watching him. Harry shook his head, sighing deeply, hand continuously stroking her back._

_“No, it is, it’s my fault you ran away, you didn’t want to return to Hogwarts, I should’ve listened to you, I should’ve heard you out, but all I did was yell at you and force you apart from your only friend...”_

_“It’s not... it was stupid even trying to go back in time. It’s my fault, I just wanted to do something right... I should’ve known how ridiculous it was.”_

_She lowered her head in a hopefully guilty looking way, pretending it was just as difficult to talk about this with him as it was for Harry._

_“No, Albus, don’t blame yourself. You only did what you thought was right. And we couldn’t have done this without you.”_

_“You wouldn’t have had to. If I hadn’t–“_

_“Albus, she would have found a way. It could have gone much worse. If anything, this is Delphi’s fault.”_

_The corner of her mouth twitched, she forced a nod, reluctantly leaning in when Harry pulled her closer. How ironic. The nightmare still wasn’t over, she was still here and his real son was..._

_“She’s in Azkaban now, isn’t she?”_

_“Yes. For the rest of her life. She’ll never be able to hurt you again. Or Scorpius.”_

_Yes, she would. Just you wait, Harry Potter. Her eyes darted back to his wand again, the urge to grab it getting almost unbearable. But she couldn’t do it, not yet. She had to play this game a little longer. He had to trust her, believe she really was his son for her to make the next move. She wanted him to suffer before she murdered him, she wanted to see the shock on his face when his “son” drew his wand on him and finally killed him. Just how it should have happened twenty-three years ago._

_Delphi noticed she had clenched her hands to fists and quickly loosened them again, recalling Albus’ mannerisms._

_“But... she killed someone. A-A student died because of m–"_

_“Not because of you, Albus.” He grabbed her shoulders all of the sudden, turning her towards him, eyes determined, although his lip was quivering._

_“I need you to understand that none of this is your fault. I know what happened to him is dreadful but that was alone her doing. You had no chance against her.”_

_She simply shrugged. It kind of had been Albus’ fault. The whole time travel thing had basically been his idea. She had only nudged him in the right direction. Of course Harry didn’t think so. In his eyes her son was merely the victim of this whole story. At least he acknowledged that it were his mistakes that had driven Albus away from him._

_That was a start. Too bad it wouldn’t do anything. He would see his real son never again._

_“Still...”_

_“No. Don’t you blame yourself, Albus. It won’t do you any good. I learned that the hard way. Just...” He took a deep breath, squeezing her shoulders._

_“Know that I’m always there for you, okay? No matter what it is. I know it’s been difficult but... you’re my son and I...” Another shaky breath. “I love you very much.”_

_He gently touched her cheek and she did her best to not flinch away and forced a weak nod, even though everything in her was screaming for her to finally snatch his wand and at least fire the Cruciatus at him._

_”You know... I love you too, dad. Even though...” She cracked a pitiful smile at him. “I’m miserable at showing that...”_

_It was then Albus’ father pulled her into a hug, pressing her close to his chest. She closed her eyes, leaning in and trying to forget who it was that she was hugging._

_Only when she heard steps behind them coming down the staircase, he let go again, suspiciously wiping at his eyes. Delphi tried to unobtrusively bring some distance between them, turning around to Albus‘ mother. She smiled warmly._

_“All ready. We can talk tomorrow, Al.”_

_She nodded, getting up from the couch, giving Harry another look before making her way towards the staircase. Halfway up, he seemed to remember something and suddenly called her (Albus’) name._

_“Albus. I’ll be right there...”_

_“Sure...”, she mumbled, wondering what that was about, without turning around. She believed to know where Albus room was, it would be quite weird if she accidentally walked into his brother’s or sister’s room instead. Thankfully a green and silver striped A on the door showed her the way._

_Delphi opened the door and immediately closed it behind her, taking a deep breath. She was alone, she could drop the pretense for a moment. This was going to be exhausting. Albus’ parents were overly worried, especially his father. He was exceptionally pathetic, blaming himself for his sons pain, couldn’t he see they were both at fault because of their broken relationship? Love was difficult._

_She strolled over to the cupboard, opening it to look for some kind of sleep wear. There were some jumpers, trousers, underwear (she dreaded the moment she would have to put that on), socks... She picked a random long sleeved shirt and jogging pants, changing into the new clothes. That would do._

_She briefly glanced around Albus’ room, it wasn’t exactly tidy, there were some books and socks lying around, but she supposed that was normal for a teenage boy. But apparently that A on the door had been the only Slytherin related thing, the rest of his room consisted of way more neutral colors. He seemed almost ashamed of it._

_She crawled into his bed, not feeling exactly comfortable sleeping here, but she didn’t have much of a choice. At least it wasn’t Azkaban. She wondered how Albus was doing. If he had woken up by now. He had to be so scared. Poor boy, being all alone in a prison cell, in a different body. But she failed to feel sorry for him. He deserved it, or at least, Harry did._

_She settled down in the cushions, staring at the ceiling. That spell she used in the church had been her last chance. And it worked, suddenly she had been in Albus’ body, putting him into hers in the process. She didn’t know how long it would take until anyone would notice but until then she would’ve gotten her revenge on Harry Potter. She couldn’t wait._

_The door open quietly and the man himself entered, approaching the bed, in his hands a steaming mug._

_“Your mum insisted.”_

_She sat up again, carefully taking it from his hands._

_“Oh... thanks.”_

_“You’re welcome...” Harry stared at her for a moment, before sitting down next to her legs._

_Delphi took a careful sip of the hot tea, it was surprisingly tasty, a mix between berries and honey._

_“Your favourite.” He smiled softly and she managed another weak smile. It was probably meant to make her (or rather Albus) feel better. It was pleasantly warm in her stomach, so it had at least some effect._

_“Drink up and then try to get some sleep. We can talk about everything else tomorrow.”_

_Delphi nodded, taking another sip, while trying to endure Harry’s worried eyes on her. He looked like he didn’t want to leave anytime soon. Or at all._

_“It’s okay, dad. I’m fine. I just need to sleep a little bit...”_

_He nodded frantically, patting her legs._

_“Sure, of course. Then... Good night, Albus.”_

_He leaned forward and Delphi closed her eyes in disgust when Harry pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head._

_This better be worth it in the end._

 

When Albus spoke again, his voice was bitter, quiet and dripping with hatred.

_You’re alone, Delphi. That’s what makes us different._

She leaned back, scoffing softly. Alone. She supposed that was quite right. She didn’t have anyone. She didn’t have parents or siblings or a best friend who was more than that. She never had.

_I don’t feel very alone right now. I’ve got you, haven’t I?_

_Now. But if I have figured out how to end this, you’re gonna spend the rest of your life alone in Azkaban, while I get to live._

Delphi swallowed at that, his voice seemed to echo in her mind. _To live._

Wasn’t that what she ever wanted?

Since the beginning, ever since she had escaped her guardian, all that she wanted was to bring back her father and be with him, live at his side. And they had just taken that from her.

_It’s not like I’m gonna miss you, Albus._

_Good._

With that it was quiet in her mind and she swallowed, closing her eyes again. She couldn’t give up like this. She had to find a way to make them pay and if it was the last thing she did.

An idea popped into her head. She was connected to Albus’ mind in way, he could hear her thoughts and feel her emotions. He could hear everything she did. She had to use that.

Taking a deep breath, she got up, slowly approaching the bars. The two men guarding her didn’t move the slightest bit. There was an enchantment on the door and the bars, she had no chance of reaching through or even destroying them somehow. She got as close as possible, feeling the magic vibrating from the iron bars. Well, it was time to figure out what exact spells they put on there.

“Hey.” She took another step closer, hands gripping around the bars. It felt a bit like electricity running through her veins, up her arms, burning, but she clenched her teeth and didn’t let go. One of the guards turned around, pointing his wand at her.

“Back.”

“No.” She stepped even closer, even though her hands started to shake.

The guard squinted his eyes, raising his wand a bit more.

“Back”, he repeated and she forced a grim smile at him, leaning her forehead against the cold metal.

“What are you gonna do?”

_What are you doing?_

Her smile grew, she raised her chin.

“Do it. Come on.”

_Delphi?_

_This is for you, Albus._

A second later the guard mumbled something and a red bolt shot out of his wand, hitting her right in the chest. She was repelled backwards, painfully falling against the wall, groaning. Her already injured shoulder stung, she clenched her jaw, trying to ignore the heavy pain spreading through her body. A growl escaped her throat, this was alone Albus’ fault. It wasn’t difficult to find someone to blame, to find someone to project her anger onto. There wasn’t much of a choice.

She scrambled up again, even though it hurt like hell and her sight was a bit blurry, staggering forward to the bars again.

“That’s all you got?”

She hoped Albus could feel her pain, feel her anger, hear her. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the bars again, ignoring the unpleasant feeling it sent through her.

“Come on, do it again. Do it!”

_What are you doing?_

She ignored him. The guard scoffed, putting away his wand. She balled her fists, trying to reach through. Immediately a spell bounced her back, sending an electric tingle though her veins. It felt even worse than the first time.

_Delphi, what are you doing?_

“Stop it. It’s no use”, the other guard said, sounding almost bored. Albus on the other hand sounded frightened.

“I don’t care.”

She growled, heading for the bars again, still hoping they would use a harder spell on her, something that would transfer to Albus and that would hurt him, badly.

“Come on! I can scream at you all day long!“

She just needed to provoke them enough, it worked with Harry, why shouldn’t it work with them? Yes, maybe it wasn’t about their family but they surely wouldn’t like her screaming and trying to break through the bars. It wouldn’t work for long anyway, but maybe long enough to drive Albus crazy.

She took another run for the bars, taking a deep breath before screaming at the top of her lungs.

The two guards jumped slightly, both drawing their wands and turning around.

_Stop!_

_Oh Albus, this is only the beginning._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and please let me know what you think in a comment! :)
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [YourDearOldFriend's Tumblr](https://yourdearoldfriend.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter, I hoped you liked it. Let me know what u think in a comment! ;)
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://dangerous-to-dreamm.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [YourDearOldFriend's Tumblr](https://yourdearoldfriend.tumblr.com/)


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